That Godawful Trip to Italy
by Sanauria Maldhun
Summary: It started with a school trip to Italy. Everything simply went downhill from there.
1. Chapter 1

**One of the very common plots, I know, but I wanted to try it out.**

**Set after the manga—meaning, Tsuna is still as awesome as ever.**

**Warning: Bad attempt at humor. Still tried.**

**Diclaimer: Don't own. If I did, I wouldn't have made Tsuna 'dame' in the last few chapters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Reborn was as subtle as an atomic bomb.<p>

Hell, that was probably the understatement of the century.

The now de-cursed man in an infant's body was as subtle as the Big Bag, and even that comparison, Tsuna felt, did not completely satisfy just how un-subtle the hitman was.

So when Reborn entered his classroom, disguised as an infant sized female with overly thick eyebrows, introducing himself as 'Resu-sensei', 'Robiyama-sesnsei''s never heard of wife, Tsuna couldn't help but wonder why the hell he was busy choking on his own spit. He also couldn't help but wonder why in God's name he turned an unhealthy shade of white when the hitman said the following in an overly annoying squeaky voice, the sun choosing this as the perfect opportunity to filter in through the classroom, casting a dramatic effect over the bushy browed infant's frame and causing said infant's fake pacifier to glint quite dramatically at the effect the rays created:

"Congratulations! Your class, along with a few selected members from 3-B have the wonderful opportunity to go to Italy for a Once In A Lifetime Field Trip!"

Tsuna could literally _hear _the capital letters.

Tsuna had been freely gaping at Reborn. He shut his mouth, since the previous activity of gaping was not going to help him, anyway, especially not since panic was taking over him. It might have been his Hyper Intuition or whatever, but he knew what his tutor's next words were going to be.

"It is being sponsored by the Vongola!"

Why Reborn sounded so damn excited, Tsuna did not know, and a part of him decided that he frankly preferred it that way.

Curiosity kills the cat, after all.

Was he surprised at hearing the name of the world's richest and most influential (not to mention _freaking powerful) _Family in Reborn's sentence?

Of course not.

What _did _surprise him, however, was the sudden murmurs of the further excited teens which broke through the classroom at the mention of the—the _thing _which would definitely lead to his death in the (very near) future.

"Vongola?!"

"As in like the ultra expensive company which sell those _top quality _shit I would give my life away to buy?!"

"You have _got _to be kidding me!"

"What's Vongola doing sponsoring a trip for _us _of all people?"

_Actually, _Tsuna thought glumly, narrowing his eyes at Reborn to form a glare, annoyed to see how he was blatantly being ignored, _that is a valid question whose answer I'm sure I can provide._

"My husband's"—Tsuna choked—"friend has very close ties to the Vongola. It is he who had requested them to allow the students of Namimori Middle to visit Italy. It is crucial for you, certainly, and for those who do not agree to go for the trip, the repercussions will be… unsavory."

It was funny how Reborn made the word 'unsavory' sound very much like a death warrant, coupled with five days of torture session before being finally stabbed repeatedly with a knife. It probably had something to do with being, well, _Reborn._

The class clearly noticed the underlying threat, because they, except for Yamamoto (who was grinning wildly in excitement), Gokudera(who looked pleased at the thought of visiting Italy) and Chrome (who was smiling lightly, sweet that she was), went very, very still. Silence ensued till one courageous soul by the name of Tanaka Yamada decided that breaking the silence was the best course of action.

He raised his arm to catch Reborn's female get up's attention, "Sensei, when will we be going?"

"Five days from today. The trip was rather sudden. That is why it has been given at such a short notice."

"I don't have a passport—"

"Kusume-kun, is it? Do not worry; the passports have already been created for you."

Hinata blinked, "Created? The signatures—"

"They are done."

"Done? But how—"

"I have my methods. Besides, you forget, this is _the _Vongola. The methods are completely legal—"

_That's a load of bull, Reborn._

"—and the Government helped to make it faster. There is no need to worry."

"But—"

"At all." Reborn insisted sweetly, authority and promise of torture leaking into his voice, "Any more questions? No? Good. Nezu-sensei will be passing out some applications to you. Fill them and, if your parents do not agree to the trip, ask them to call the number written at the bottom. It is necessary for your future, very much so, so some people will convince your parents. Nezu-sensei, please do the honors. I need to announce this to the other classes. If you will excuse me."

Reborn left as abruptly as that, and the applications were handed out.

Tsuna did not bother looking at the two sheets of paper, convinced that the papers would somehow blow up in his face.

Knowing Reborn, his fear was completely legit.

* * *

><p>Due to the presence of two teachers during the announcement of the unfortunate news, the reactions and the verbal excitement of the students had been subdued. As soon as the break started, the exuberance leaked out of the students in the form of words and sentences and squealing and lots and lots of jumping and hell <em>lot <em>of chatter.

Tsuna did not like it. It made him want to bang his head against a wall, and get into a temporary coma and wake up after the trip was officially over. His friends—Chrome, Gokudera and Yamamoto—were excited. Tsuna envied them. A lot.

Tsuna, never the voluble one, preferred not announcing that thought, turning his attention towards Enma.

"Please tell me you're coming."

Enma, sucking onto chocolate milk from his straw, said, a touch of a smile on his face,"We have decided to visit our Family. It has been a long time since we last saw them."

"It would've been nice if you came." Tsuna groaned softly.

"I'll visit the mansion sometime later, then."

"You better." Tsuna told him seriously, "You're the only normal person. Knowing Reborn, I _will _have to go and considering, well, _everything_, keeping my identity…" he groaned again, "Ugh. Hate this."

Enma patted his back in sympathy.

* * *

><p>"Reborn!" Tsuna all but shrieked the moment he saw the ex-Arcobaleno drinking a cup of coffee, perched on a mini couch, "What's with the field trip?!"<p>

Reborn glanced at him and—painstakingly _slowly—_placed the cup down and blinked at Tsuna. Tsuna kept his bag down, and comported to glaring at Reborn.

"You want answers?"

"Yes!"

Reborn sighed and jumped down from the couch, which methodically got swallowed by the floor.

"Over the past two weeks, how many assassination attempts have you had to go through?"

"Nineteen. No, twenty one." Tsuna replied immediately, wondering where this was going.

"That is a lot."

"Stop changing the subject."

"I'm not, Dame-Tsuna. Twenty one _is _a lot. And you're not the only one."

"Meaning?"

"Your classmates. They've had to go through the same thing. Thankfully, the Vongola's men intervened at the correct moment and prevented unfortunate deaths. Your classmates won't always be lucky. I know what you are going to say next, so don't bother. We have to work on you not showing your emotions so easily, Tsuna. It's ridiculous. Nobody knows what the Decimo looks like. They only know your class and your school."

"But—"

"The Inheritance Ceremony, yes. What did I say about hiding your emotions? Really you're _pathetic—_"

_Only Reborn can_ _make a simple explanation so insulting._

"—no, I'm pretty sure that Lal can do, too, but probably not as well as me."

"Stop reading my mind, Reborn!"

Reborn ignored the protest, "Anyway, we wiped all the Bosses' memories of you clean. Allies, they may be, but the _can _harm you. Only Dino and a few others know what the Decimo looks like."

Tsuna remained silent for a while. He started, "It is to protect me, then."

"And your classmates."

"And my classmates." Tsuna groaned and flopped onto his bed. Reborn made a dissatisfied sound at the ungraceful way in which Tsuna did the act, but the brunette ignored it, turning the information in his head.

If it were only his life that was being targeted, he wouldn't have cared that much. He knew he was more than capable of protecting himself, but his classmates were a different matter entirely. He already felt guilty at having involved them, and he was pretty sure that the guilt would have been _worse _if someone were to really die. His eyes narrowed, mind having recognized a flaw.

"3-B."

"Hm?" The couch had returned.

"3-B. Why 3-B? There was no point for them to—"

"More people. Confusion. Pandemonium. Distraction. Take your pick."

"But why 3-B?"

"Why not 3-B?" Reborn shot back.

"I saw the people who have been chosen, Reborn," he started slowly, "They're all my bullies! They hate me!"

"Well, then," Reborn smirked over his coffee, "It will be amusing to see their reaction once they get to know who you are, won't it?"

"Reborn!"

That day he called Enma over the phone since the redhead was the only one who understood how desperate Tsuna was in _not _becoming a mafia boss, and repeated the following line over fifteen times in twelve minutes:

"I'm so screwed."

* * *

><p>Strictly speaking, seeing that Ryohei and Hibari were high school students and <em>not <em>middle school students, the two weren't supposed to be going for the field trip. But they were, and Tsuna could not find it in himself to be surprised. He had seen worse, frankly.

The only reason why Hibari's presence was not questioned was because they feared questioning _him (_of all people), and since it had been announced by Reborn in the female get up that Ryohei was to accompany them, nobody bothered to ask the reason why.

Two weeks after Tsuna had become a third year, a Namimori High building had been built in the same grounds as Namimori Middle. How the creation of a _building _was possible in two weeks was a bit of a mystery to everyone, but Hibari was not complaining because: one, it increased his 'hunting ground', and two, it prevented him from remaining a Middle School student forever. The appearance of the building had made Tsuna sigh and not question anything.

He had learned that going with the flow was always the best course of action when his friends or families weren't being killed.

On the twenty fifth, Tsuna found himself standing in front of a private airplane owned by the Vongola (its symbol painted cheerfully on the metal), gaping.

"That," Tsuna muttered forlornly, "is mine. Shit."

He vaguely registered the other students in front of him and behind him gaping in awe, since the plane somehow managed to look not at all like how a normal plane should look like, their emotions spectacularly contradicting Tsuna's.

"I CAN'T WAIT TO EXTREMELY GO BACK, SAWADA!"

Some stared at Ryohei, bewildered at the declaration.

"Sasagawa-san, you've gone to Italy before?"

Ryohei grinned broadly and nodded with excitement, "I did! With my extremely amazing family!"

They had. Gone to Italy, that is. It had been for two weeks, though, to celebrate the upliftment of the Arcobaleno curse. Even Bermuda had visited—only to see Tsuna in the middle of the night, because the Vendice member hadn't—still wasn't, Tsuna suspected—wanted to startle anyone. He had come to thank Tsuna for what the brunette had done for them, leaving Tsuna flustered because _I didn't do anything, Bermuda-san!_

"Haha, Tsuna I can't wait to go back and meet everyone!"

Tsuna smiled faintly.

Gokudera mistook it for worry.

"Tch, do not bother the Tenth!"

"What about I-Pin-chan, Lambo-kun and Fuuta-kun, Boss?"

Tsuna turned to glance at Chrome, smiling. It was good to know that his female Mist Guardian had taken a liking to the kids. He glanced at Kyoko who was waiting for him to answer the question.

"They left before we did." Tsuna replied, "Mom won't be there, though…"

He trailed off when his eyes caught the arrival of Riccatto. The pilot. Who was heading in his direction. And who was shining like thousand suns when their eyes met.

"_Good day, Decimo._"

Tsuna could _feel _the gaze of the students on him. Even Nezu-sensei was confused as to why Tsuna was being greeted by a stranger in what he guessed correctly to be Italian.

Tsuna pointedly looked at the other direction and, pointedly, ignored the hand placed in front of him. He vaguely wondered if he could hide behind Chrome. Or Kyoko. In fact, Yamamoto was the best option—the baseball fanatic was _tall._

He tried and failed at not feeling guilty when the man's cheerfulness dropped abruptly and the pilot slinked away in a very depressed manner. Tsuna hoped Riccatto wasn't crying. The sniffs he heard happily disagreed with his wish.

Dammit.

"Get inside." Reborn in his female get up ordered, his exiguous frame perched on top of the plane.

"You should get down from there, Resu-sensei." Nezu-sensei said, feigning worry.

Reborn huffed and ignored the man.

While people were gaping at the plane, Hibari, having had enough of breathing the same air as useless herbivores, darted out from the crowd and entered the plane. And Tsuna's Intuition tingled.

"Shit!" with a startled cry, Tsuna flung himself toward the plane, climbing the flight of stairs and disappearing in the interior of the metal tube.

"Get _inside_," Reborn warned the remaining students, "or I _will _shoot you."

The students stirred, blanching at how _real _the threat sounded, despite not having sighted a gun in the nearby vicinity. They hurried in with their luggage, and gaped. Not with awe at having noticed how the plane looked more like the interior of a _house _rather than a plane. But with fear. And terror.

Because Hibari Kyoya, tonfas brandished, was having an ongoing death match with a person whose hair resembled a tropical fruit (pineapple?), mismatched eyes a striking characteristic. The stranger's fingers were clasped firmly around a _trident, which was being gleefully stabbed around in the _prefect's _direction and __**what the hell?**_

Nezu-sensei decided that he, being a teacher, should probably intervene. So he tried, "Now, now, Kyoya-sa—" Hibari glared and Nezu-sensei immediately altered his choice of words, "Hibari-dono, calm—"

A knife which appeared out of no-_freaking-_where was dodged by Hibari, embedding itself firmly on the plane's wall, grazing a child's ear. Hibari hissed in annoyance.

And then all hell broke loose.

Screams ensued because Hibari was _still _fighting and sending chains of something _spiky _from his _tonfas, _and the teacher, who was meant to _calm everyone down _and not dive for cover, like a serenading seal, was doing just that. Tsuna barely managed to dodge the chain which was _fucking propagating_, preventing his head from being cut off.

Somebody screamed and pushed him, and he found himself licking the floor.

Tsuna spent the next few seconds to choose what emotions to feel, choosing to recall what he had been doing for the past five days.

After his conversation with Reborn and then eating dinner and sleeping, the next day he had woken up Reborn's new, _inventive _torture methods. This was nothing uncommon, but in the past five days, he had had to escape and save himself from nineteen more assassination attempts, complete the paperwork that he, as the (never to be) future Decimo, needed to complete courtesy of the trip, fly to Italy because of some political reason, save his own life from Reborn and… well, the past few days had been horrible.

So, it wasn't very difficult to choose what emotion to feel.

"Will you two," Tsuna started coldly, rising up and somehow managing to look as if he hadn't been licking the floor just a few seconds back, "stop destroying the goddamn plane, and _sit the hell down?_"

Silence.

There were two reasons for the above silence.

One, that was the scariest voice the students had _ever _heard (Reborn chuckled at how awesome of a job he was doing at making Dame-Tsuna less, well, _dame) _in their lives, so they (and Nezu sensei, who looked just about ready to pee in his pants) were busy shivering. Second, Hibari Kyoya, who epitomized cruelty and violence and _defiance, _and instilled fear in people's hearts with a simple and a seemingly innocuous glance, stopped, glanced at Tsuna and _lowered his tonfa, _so they were, unabashedly, too preoccupied with gaping at the brunette.

The prefect's death match partner lowered his weapon and gave an odd laugh which informed to people of his diabolical nature.

"Ah, Tsunayoshi-kun."

"Mukuro," Tsuna greeted, mood taking a one eighty degree turn (from frigidness to panic), "What are you doing here?! You aren't supposed to—"

Mukuro raised an eyebrow, "Are you really that surprised?"

Tsuna paused and facepalmed, muttering something about 'evil babies with guns'.

"Sit down, students!" Reborn interrupted, popping beside Tsuna abruptly.

"HIII—"

His shriek was cut off by a cylindrical silver being slammed into his face.

"Shut. Up. You're noisy, herbivore."

Gokudera immediately came to his precious and ethereal Tenth's timely rescue, the heat behind his glare capable of melting diamond, "What the hell do you think you were doing Hibari?! Apologize to the Tenth! NOW!"

Hibari 'hn'ed.

"NOW, YOU BASTARD!" dynamites came, "Or I'll blow your face from the Earth's surfa—"

"U-Uh, Go-Gokudera-kun, I think it's alright," Tsuna interrupted, cradling his bloody nose, "I-I—"

"THAT WASN'T EXTREME AT ALL, HIBARI!" Ryohei exclaimed, grabbing Tsuna, intending to heal him. With his Flames. In front of everyone.

"I'm alright—Onii-sa—"

"NONSENSE TO THE EXTREME, SAWA—"

"I'm _fine—"_

"_Apologize, you—"_

"Gokudera-ku—"

"Sit EXTREMELY still—"

"Unhand me herbivore," Hibari threatened Gokudera, now _really _interested at the prospect of having a fight. No wonder he wasn't even trying to be evasive, "or I'll bite you to—"

"Fuck biting—"

"'Dera, leave him be, I'm sure—"

"You shut up, base ball freak, and DON'T EVER CALL ME THAT!"

"Haha."

"I hate being interrupted by herbivores like—"

"I'm fine, onii-san, so please don't use your Fla—"

It has to be mentioned that the moment Gokudera, never the one to sit back and let his boss get any kind of physical, mental or spiritual hurt, had chosen to pick a fight with Hibari, Reborn and the pilot, Riccatto, had been busy guiding the students and one teacher out of the plane.

Which was exactly why when, three minutes later, dynamites exploded inside, a laughing baseball fanatic sliced the plane into three halves, a certain prefect tonfaed everything in his vicinity, a boxing captain blew punches and created huge holes in the planes for reasons unknown, a certain someone stabbed at whatever plane parts which came flying at him and a very unfortunate and unwilling to be Decimo decided that crying in one negligible corner of a now-useless plane was the only option available, there were no unfortunate casualties.

Colorful lights glowed ominously and students gaped.

And then they learned that the plane journey (considering that the plane was now a pile of scrap) to Italy was going to be replaced by a ship trip, so they cheered, still a bit stunned.

(It would be sometime later that Tsuna would learn that the Varia would decide to grace the ship with their presence.)

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><p><strong>Done! My writing might be a bit rusty, but I tried.<strong>

**Reviews make my day! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS!**

**You guys are **_**awesome! **_**Your reviews were simply amazing—they made my week, and I swear to God, if I were capable of baking mountain sized cookies, I would have sent you people a hundred, each. I am so happy!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own. Sadly.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Tsuna did not need to be particularly observant or intelligent to come to the conclusion that Nezu-sensei was absolutely <em>furious.<em>

Brown eyes stared up at the man whose face was purple and contorted with rage, spit flying in all directions, including Tsuna's face, as the man barked and scolded and screamed, absolutely livid. It wasn't an unknown fact that the man hated Tsuna more than anything; because of the brunette, after all, he had temporarily lost his job.

"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?! YOU DESTROYED A _PLANE! VONGOLA'S PLANE! DO YOU HAVE NO DECENCY?!_"

Tsuna wondered why _he _was the only one getting screamed at, considering all he did was sob in a corner in morbid defeat. The ones to destroy the plane were his _friends, _not he, and life was wholly unfair. Then again, Tsuna concluded, screaming at his Guardians (who were just his friends, _really_) was a difficult job to do, considering how intimidating the actually were.

Speaking of intimidation, Tsuna was trying to be intimidated by Nezu-sensei's face, but failing epically. It didn't help that the man's face conveniently reminded him of a hapless kitten; something was clearly wrong with his own head, Tsuna decided, promptly blaming Reborn for hitting him in the skull far too many times to be considered healthy.

Nezu-sensei was gesticulating vigorously, "YOU HAVE SULLIED THE NAME OF OUR SCHOOL!"

…Sullied? That was certainly dramatic.

Gokudera and Ryohei looked openly furious at Nezu-sensei for screeching at Tsuna, while Yamamoto had the smile of a person trying his best not to lose his patience and _snap _and possibly murder someone (preferably Nezu Dochira, Tsuna could see), while Tsuna sent warning glances at the trio, effectively stopping them from butchering his class teacher. Even Chrome looked a bit furious, while Hibari looked characteristically irritated. Mukuro looked bored—characteristic, really.

"WHO DO YOU THINK WILL HAVE TO _PAY FOR THE DAMAGES?! OUR SCHOOL!"_

He continued screeching; Tsuna hated the sniggers and the annoyed glances his classmates were giving him. Not that he was surprised—apparently he had, after all, _destroyed a plane._

After a few minutes, Reborn, deciding to extract Tsuna from the predicament, intervened.

"No need to worry," the ex-Arcobaleno interrupted, "The Vongola was already prepared for such a… accident. Neither the school, nor the individual," he glanced at Tsuna in amusement, "will have to pay for the damages."

"But—"

"There is no need to worry," Reborn repeated sharply, no doubt irked at the prospect of having to repeat himself.

Nezu-sensei looked ready to argue, but another look from Reborn shut him up. He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, sending a warning look at Tsuna firmly, "And you. I will be keeping an eye on you. You're troublesome as it is, and the last thing you will be allowed to do is destroy this trip. I'd rather not have Vongola complaining about how utterly _deplorable _Namimori Middle's students are."

Tsuna nodded vigorously, and, following a curt order from Nezu-sensei, left to join his friends.

"Do you want me to kill him, Tenth?" Gokudera asked, looking a bit too eager for Tsuna's comfort.

"No, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna pleaded a bit wryly, having heard the same request from Gokudera whenever somebody even so much as raised his or her voice at him, "just leave him be. It was my fault, anyway."

He gave the silverette a meaningful look. Gokudera looked away in guilt, and Tsuna tried not to feel too guilty.

And failed. Damnit.

* * *

><p>"I'm really sorry for ignoring you when you, er, greeted me."<p>

Tsuna tried not to cringe at the expression—full of respect and admiration and looking just about ready to burst into tears— Riccatto was making at him. Since almost everybody associated with the Vongola was magically multi-talented, Tsuna hadn't been particularly surprised at knowing that Riccatto could not only operate a plane, but also a ship. Which meant that the man in question was the ship's Captain.

"But, Decimo, you didn't _have _to apologize—"

"It was my fault in the first place." Tsuna said softly, "It was rude of me, and I—" The brunette bowed down, "I'm really, really sorry—"

_Oh, kami, the Decimo is so kind!_

"Please, Decimo, there is no need to bow—"

Tsuna bow deepened, apparently hell bent on having the other accept the apology.

Riccatto bit his lip, "I-I accept your apology, Decimo, but can you please stop bowing…?"

Tsuna looked up, and Riccatto noticed the relief in the Neo Vongola Primo's eyes. He tried not to feel too happy at noticing that fact.

"Thank you…" Tsuna said appreciatively.

Riccatto nodded, "But, Decimo, why are you hiding your identity from your classmates?"

Tsuna gave a sheepish smile, "Um. I want a normal life, really, and I'm pretty sure that the chances of having one is likely to be very low once people get to know that I'm the heir of the _Vongola, _so…"

Riccatto nodded understandingly, idly tinkering with one of the knobs in the control room of the ship

"Besides, I'm not exactly popular in my class…"

Riccatto paused, "What do you mean?"

"Er." Tsuna looked a bit uncomfortable, "Weeeell… I'm kinda bullied. But that has decreased a lot!" he added hastily when Riccatto's eyes darkened considerably.

"Who, may I ask, were the ones to bully you, Decimo?"

_Like hell I'm going to tell you that! _Tsuna thought immediately, no doubt having noticed the sudden dark aura surrounding the captain. He excused himself hastily, lest Riccatto actually managed to extract the names—Ayashi, Takahira, Kaneda and a few more—of the people who had made his life hell before he had met Reborn (which only served to make his life more hell-like, frankly), "My friends are waiting for me, so, um, BYE!"

He darted out of the control room, climbed up the stairs hastily and spilled into the deck.

* * *

><p>Ayashi observed wryly as Gokudera Hayato called out to a certain someone.<p>

"Tenth! Tenth, where are you?! Oh my God, please don't tell me you are lost! TENTH!"

The silver haired teenager was making a _lot _of fuss, much to Ayashi's annoyance. He didn't like Tsuna, and he couldn't help but wonder why the hell the Italian was searching desperately for the person whose uselessness exceeded even a newborn. Not that it mattered (much) to Ayashi how many people Tsuna was friends with, but _seriously. _Why _him? _The brunette was fucking _useless!_

He knew that his friends—Takahira and Kaneda—agreed with him wholeheartedly.

Dame-Tsuna spilled out into the deck, and, much to Ayashi's perpetual annoyance, was instantly swallowed by a group of people—his _friends._

It pissed him off more than anything.

He observed as the shortest boy of the group explained something or the other to the three boys and two girls surrounding him, before giving an awkward laugh, no doubt telling them not to worry. If there was another odd thing Arashi had noticed with Tsuna and his group of friends, it was definitely how the people around him kept on asking the brunette the same question—_are you alright? _It didn't make sense! They acted as if whenever the brunette stepped away from their line of sight, Dame-Tsuna would die.

_They are so _dramatic, Arashi thought sourly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"_WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE VARIA ARE COMING?!"_

Dame-Tsuna's voice was exceedingly high pitched. It literally pierced through Arashi's ears, and he winced, frowning. Tsuna looked panicked and worried and rightfully embarrassed when he realized that people, including Arashi and his group of friends, were staring at him in slight annoyance and bewilderment.

Dame-Tsuna smiled sheepishly at them, ducked his head, and spoke to his group of friends in a very low voice.

Arashi wondered who the Varia were.

* * *

><p>Tsuna was nervous. He really regretted not having banged his head on a wall on then having gone to a coma when Reborn had not been looking. He had learned of the arrival of the Varia from a cheerful Reborn an hour ago, and, after being allotted his room, was busy panicking.<p>

"Calm down, Tsuna, nothing will happen. Besides, I haven't met Squalo for a long time, so I'm pretty excited."

"Yamamoto's right, Tenth, for once. If Xanxus so much as tries to hurt you, we will be there to protect you, so there's no need to worry!"

"That's not what I'm worried about." It was the truth, really. Even if Xanxus did try to attack him, Tsuna knew for a fact that he was capable of defending himself, "What I _am _worried about, though, is the ship. They're likely to destroy it, and then we will _drown, _and then float about in the sea and then get eaten by _sharks, and I don't __**want **__to be shark food!"_

"Haha, Tsuna, you sure do have an over active imagination!"

"It's completely likely to happen, Yamamoto!"

"Don't worry, Tenth, I'd blow the sharks before they so much as _touch _you!"

The fact that Gokudera was, in a way, by stating the above sentence, agreeing that the ship getting destroyed by the Varia was completely possible, did nothing to lessen Tsuna's worry. Sometimes he hated his life.

"Thank you, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said anyway, if only to see Gokudera's face brightening up considerably.

"You are welcome, Tenth!"

It was then that the distinct sound of a helicopter was heard, and Yamamoto peered out from the window of Tsuna's allotted room. Gokudera and Tsuna followed his action, and Tsuna barely managed to not squeak in fear when his and Xanxus' eyes met. Xanxus was leaning out of the still flying helicopter, looking wonderfully murderous as ever.

Tsuna really, _really _hated his life.

Yamamoto and Gokudera, suicidal that they were, were heading towards the deck; towards the area Tsuna distinctly remembered seeing a helipad. Not wanting to be left alone, Tsuna followed them, albeit a bit reluctantly. Tsuna reluctantly climbed the stairs and then, all too reluctantly, stepped out into the deck. There were other students too, no doubt wondering why a helicopter was heading towards the ship. Tsuna did not blame them for wondering, though he wished to be as oblivious to the reason as they were.

Tsuna took in a sharp breath when the helicopter finally landed and the Varia stepped down.

* * *

><p>Takahira watched as a silver haired man exited the helicopter, before being roughly kicked aside by another man—Takahira froze. This man was <em>terrifying—<em>he had scars all over his face, red eyes glinting with the sort of crazed madness which made Takahira want to cower under a wall and desperately hope to never be seen by the man ever again. Desperate to never look at him, Takahira turned his attention towards a floating baby (what the hell? Seriously, _what the hell?)_, a golden haired man—boy?—with a fucking _tiara, _and a person with a mow hawk and feathers.

Feathers. What.

"VOOOI! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU STUPID BOSS?!" The silver haired man screamed.

"_Shut it_, trash!" This was ordered by the scarred man Takahira was doing his very best to never look at again.

The silver haired man with a goddamn _sword _attached to his hand waved said sword about wildly, "LIKE FUCK I'M GOING TO SHUT UP—"

"Heeeeyyyy! Squalo!"

The silver haired man—Squalo—paused, and then turned around. Takahira, followed the man's line of sight. It fell on Yamamoto, who was waving and running towards the sworded guy, looking as if Christmas had come early. What was more surprising was the fact that the man actually greeted back with a, "You're here too, brat?!" and Yamamoto laughed like they were bestest of buddies.

Now, Takahira liked Yamamoto. Guy was good—funny, even, with a nice and friendly personality, forever smiling. What he _did _not like, somewhat imitating Kaneda and Arashi, was that Yamamoto stuck with _Dame-Tsuna_, of all people. It was a completely stupid thing to do, definitely. Sure, Dame-Tsuna had saved Yamamoto's life when the baseball fanatic had tried to commit suicide (_how _they had survived the fall was still a mystery to Takahira), but Dame-Tsuna was possibly the most boring teenager in the entire world, and that was probably an understatement. Ridiculousness had a limit.

His eyes caught Arashi's and the other looked as confused as he did.

"You have been practicing, haven't you?!"

"Heh…"

"DON'T 'HEH' ME, YOU IDIOT! AT YOUR AGE, I WAS A GODDAMN _GOOD _ASSASSIN!"

Wait, what?

"Yamamoto!" somebody moaned, and when Takahira turned, it was to see a very pale Dame-Tsuna.

Tsuna was officially freaking out. Squalo screaming about being an assassin surely wasn't a good thing. Yamamoto turned to look at him, and Tsuna desperately tried to tell the baseball fanatic to _come back_ and _leave the Varia alone _and _**please **__DO NOT call me over._

"Tsuna? What are you doing there? Come here!"

Tsuna rapidly shook his head, "Um. No. I'm not really feeling well, so yeah, I'll go back. Sea sick." For good measure, he covered his mouth and pretended that he was just about ready to throw up. He stepped back, gave a sheepish smile, and proceeded to dart out from the deck, but—

Honed instincts made him leap to his left, narrowly avoiding getting burned to death. On the floor, he rolled to one side, missing a booted foot just barely. He jumped up, met Xanxus' livid face and decided that dodging the next few attempts at murder was the next best course of action.

"Um, Xanxus—" left, right, duck—"what did I do _now—" _jump, roll, stand, right, _duck._

Takahira watched with morbid fascination as the man's gun shot out flames, legs and hands working constantly to hit Dame-Tsuna.

"Xanxus—"

"Your _presence _annoys me!"

"I can leave, I promise, Xanxus! In fact, I am pretty good at leaving so _please—"_

It was after a few minutes of floundering and dodging with exaggerated movements on Tsuna's part and firm orders from the man—Xanxus—to _sit still, you fucking useless trash _that Takahira noticed that something was very, _very _wrong with the scene. Apart from the fact that guns were apparently capable of imitating flame throwers and that the entire ship was, for reasons unknown, not burning down _and _that Dame-Tsuna fucking _knew _this person, the thing which caught Takahira's eyes was that Tsuna was _dodging._

Initially he had thought that it was pure luck from Tsuna's side, but now that he looked properly, he noticed that Tsuna was _really _dodging, and that too with the sort of ease Takahira had never seen the short male exude.

He blinked, the information hitting him in the face. Hard. Takahira learned judo and was pretty damn _good _at the art, but _this _was…

No, it had to be a joke. It _had _to. Dame-Tsuna was an idiot who tripped over air, someone who was bullied on a regular basis because of how utterly useless he was—a boy incapable of kicking a ball without tripping over it at least five times. And even if he _did _manage to kick it, the ball would land somewhere far off, not anywhere even remotely near the goal. Hell, Takahira had spent a good deal of his Middle School life making Tsuna's life hell, so he _knew…_

_Luck, _he decided, stubbornly, _it has to be._

But then something happened. Dame-Tsuna was too near the railing for a sane person's comfort and, to not become a burned corpse in the near future, jumped, dodging _another _burst of flames, lost his momentum, and then fell…

…into the sea.

* * *

><p><em>I hate my life, <em>Tsuna decided yet again as he was sent careening backwards. His back hit the sea, salty water entering his mouth and nostrils and he gasped. Somehow managing break out into the surface, Tsuna took in a deep, sharp breath, thankful for the presence of oxygen and trees and anything with chlorophyll and capable of giving out oxygen, really, as he tried to stay afloat. He blinked once, twice, to get rid of the salt water from his eyes, shuddering when a cold wind swept past.

The ship was still moving, away from him, and panic gripped him.

_Shit. I _knew _this trip was not a good idea._

He had to get back. His ring thrummed in response as he struggled, trying to take out his gloves from his soaked pockets with little success. And then a thought came to him:

_Okay, flying out of the water when others are looking is _definitely _not an option._

_Shit. Dammit, Xanxus!_

He stayed afloat, trying to think of an escape. He could hear Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei calling out to him, panicked, and noticed how pale Chrome and Kyoko looked. The ship was still moving, going further and further away from him, but slowing down. The news of his fall must have reached Riccatto or something.

Tsuna vaguely thought of the expressions of surprise and bewilderment on his classmates' faces, when Xanxus had specifically sought him out, and _then _proceeded to try and burn him to after life, hoping that him knowing an Italian stranger by the name of Xanxus wouldn't lead to any form of suspicion.

Who the hell was he kidding? Of course it would lead to suspicions.

Tsuna knew he had to swim forward since a human flying whilst wearing gloves defied the laws of the awful subject called Physics. So that's what he did: he swam. The ship had come to a halt, thankfully, which meant that if Tsuna continued swimming, say, twenty kilometers, he would definitely reach the ship by midnight.

And it looked sometime around noon.

_Damn it. Damn it. Damn it._

It was then that Tsuna noticed something coming at him at a very high speed.

A gray triangle.

Tsuna blinked, hoping that his eyes were deceiving him and—

Oh. Right.

Of course. A shark.

Because fate still hated him, after all, and since the Varia's arrival wasn't enough to screw everything up, Fate just _had _to add a shark into the mix, didn't it?

_You have_ _**got **__to be kidding me._

* * *

><p><strong>*Ducks a flying tomato* Yeah. Er.<strong>

…**Review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**YOU. GUYS. ARE. AMAZING.**

**FANTASTIC. FABULOUS. MINDBLOWINGLY AWESOME.**

**Thank you so much for your reviews! :D**

**Very early update, I know, but since school's opening, I won't be updating for a pretty long time. The ship set up will last for one—or two more? I'm still not sure—more chapter. And then it'll be the mansion. **

**Warning: Very, **_**very **_**bad attempt at humor. Seriously. I'm not kidding. A bit of family-ness from Tsuan's side meant for beloved Xanxus.**

**Warning: Don't own. Sadly.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>He saw red.<p>

Blood was floating and surrounding his form—the sea water was _red. _That explained the arrival of the shark. Where he had gotten himself injured was still a mystery to Tsuna since he couldn't feel any part of his body particularly stinging, but he supposed that it was during the fall. Whatever the case, it did nothing to satisfy his need to stay the hell away from the shark which seemed pretty obstinate in turning Tsuna into shark food.

Tsuna definitely had the worst luck ever. Or maybe he was simply cursed.

He would have asked Reborn about that, actually, if not for the fear of offending the hitman.

He spent the first twenty seconds screeching inside his head the words '_WHY ME!?' _and the next zero point two seconds to come to a solution:

_I should kill it_, he thought to himself firmly, and then hesitated.

That seemed so… mean.

Yeah, sure, the shark wanted to _eat _him, but Tsuna _hated _being mean.

So he did the only thing he could do in this situation, where the odds were cheerfully and very exuberantly (as usual) against him: he swam in the opposite direction, involuntarily gulping in a lot of sea water. He hated the feel of that, he decided, taking in sweet oxygen at the same time.

And _then _something slipper touched his foot and he yelped, startled, before finding himself being swiftly—if not gently—scooped out of the water. The slippery yet rough something was still underneath him, and it would have freaked him out if he weren't busty coughing and trying to puke out his lung. The wind was brushing past his ears, fast, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He was dumped unceremoniously on a hard surface, which prompted him to open his eyes, immediately coming to the conclusion that he was back safely on the ship.

He also noticed a flying shark. Which bubbled out of existence and very blatantly disappeared into a Rain Guardian's Varia Ring.

"VOOOOOOIIIII!" said Rain Guardian screamed, "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU, YOU BABY BOSS?! CAN'T YOU _SWIM?!"_

Tsuna recalled the shark, glanced at Squalo, added two and two, and came to a sobbing four.

Obviously, since flying sharks were an everyday thing, his classmates weren't likely to ask any difficult-to-answer-questions, right?

Right.

Tsuna gave a sheepish smile, and mumbled a half hearted apology. Squalo, the only remaining Varia member present in the deck, snorted and stalked away.

"Che, I'm leaving you to your own damned business and remember to meet my stupid Boss later. He wants to talk to you or murder you or something; don't care."

Tsuna watched the owner of his savior leave, and then belatedly noticed that _everybody _was staring at him.

Whispers resounded:

"How do they know _Dame-Tsuna?"_

"Why was he trying to kill him?"

"Was that a _flying shark?"_

"Yeah! Did you look at it!"

"Sharks can't fly!"

"That's biologically impossible!"

"But Tsuna was _on _it!"

It is a known fact that children are mostly fickle. Since the flying shark was evidently more interesting than the strangers' knowledge of Tsuna's existence, the whispers and speculations started revolving mostly on the odd incident regarding the fish. And then people started asking _him _about the shark, and how it magically simply _bubbled _out of existence since that was not definitely possible, and Tsuna started feeling very, very awkward. He had no explanations to it, and his still cold and mushy brain could not come up with a proper excuse.

Things became worse when people expected _him—_someone who preferred drowning in the sea than showing his clueless classmates that defying the Laws of Physics was something he did on a very regular basis—to answer the scientifically impossible.

Chrome—_bless that girl, Jesus, Buddha, __**anyone, **_Tsuna thought in ecstasy—decided to intervene.

"Tha—That was a machine."

All heads turned to her.

"What do you mean?" A girl asked.

"A machine, obviously. I had gone to, um, Switzerland last summer, and there were toys like that there. For kids."

Verde would be rolling in his future-grave if the green haired scientist ever came to the knowledge that his weapons were being described as kiddy toys.

"But that was so real!"

"They are meant to look real." Chrome said firmly, and then probably did something with her Mist Flames (illusions, no doubt) which convinced the students the next moment, if a short pause followed by nods of agreement were anything to go by.

Tsuna wanted to kiss Chrome then and there, but managed to restrain himself for the fear of getting gutted by Ken. Mukuro—diabolical that he was—would definitely tell the blonde, and Tsuna preferred his guts to be where they were.

He managed a grateful smile. Chrome smiled back.

The moment was broken by the arrival of a hysterical Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei, all three looking absurdly pale, and Tsuna instantly reassured them of his survival.

"I'm _alright_, guys. Really." He repeated when none of them seemed particularly convinced.

"You are _not alright!_" Gokudera all but shrieked, crouching by his Boss' side as he took in the very deep and possibly life threatening gash adorning his calf.

Huh. Funny how it was not hurting at all.

Tsuna prodded the injury with his index finger, realizing that it still wasn't paining. There had to be something wrong with that, he concluded, somewhat dazed, noticing for the first time the pool of blood surrounding him. His classmates, having had noticed the blood immediately after having satisfied their curiosity over the existence of flying fishes, unsurprisingly, did not come forth to help. They were just asking how he was, and whether he was alright, but that was probably because stepping up and helping him seemed impossible, what with three people huddled very protectively over him.

"I AM EXTREMELY HEALING YOU!" Ryohei declared, clenching his hands the way he did whenever Sun Flames were to come to play.

Tsuna rapidly shook his head, and tried standing up. He succeeded in doing so, but Gokudera tugged him down.

"Do not move, Tenth! The injury is very bad!"

"Please do not heal me!" Tsuna repeated a bit desperately, earning odd looks from his friends. Ryohei paused, bewildered, and Tsuna continued, "I'm fine! I swear to God, I am _perfectly _fine so—"

The last thing he saw before the world caved and tilted was the face of a very amused and slightly irate Reborn, who seemed a bit too evil for Tsuna's comfort.

* * *

><p>When Tsuna woke up, it was to see a chandelier.<p>

The existence of such an object wasn't even a bit surprising to Tsuna since his muddled up brain reminded him that his allotted room had the abovementioned object fixed to the ceiling, which explained where exactly he was. The surface he was lying on was soft and springy—the bed, then, he decided, groggily sitting up. He ran his hand over his face, registering how salty and sticky he felt.

"_Ah, you're awake, Decimo._"

The words were spoken in Italian, so Tsuna replied back in Italian, "_What happened?_"

The man who Tsuna failed to recognize swept his hand in the general direction of Tsuna's leg, and he noticed that the injured limb was securely bandaged, "_After you lost your consciousness, Decimo, you were brought here. Sasagawa Ryohei healed your leg."_The man frowned in slight distaste, "_He was making quite a ruckus, too."_

Something about his tone made Tsuna feel a bit irritated. He shoved the feeling aside.

"_Ah, where are my manners? I am Alessandro Barsetti,_" the man introduced himself, and Tsuna ignored the way his intuition rang suddenly with startling clarity.

"_Nice to meet you. I am Sawada Tsunayoshi. I suppose Tsunayoshi Sawada in Italian, right?_"

The man chuckled. It was an unobtrusive chuckle, but it made Tsuna uncomfortable.

"_I'm aware,_" Alessandro informed him lightly, and then frowned, "_Are you feeling quite alright, Decimo?_"

"_Yeah. I think I lost too much blood. Urgh…_" Tsuna replied feebly, glad that the windows and his room's door were open. It allowed more air circulation—something Tsuna required at the moment. He swayed a little, instantly glad when a pair of strong hands gently supported him by his shoulders.

Alessandro was speaking, "_You should rest._"

Tsuna nodded, "_Thank you, Alessandro._"

There was a sound of shuffling feet. Tsuna looked at the door, but when Alessandro did not do the same, Tsuna guessed that he had merely imagined it. Alessandro was muttering in contempt, "_Seriously, Xanxus has gone too far__this time…"_

Tsuna laughed, "_Yeah, but that's him."_

"_He shouldn't __**be **__the Varia Leader! His attitude is utterly __**disgusting!**_"

Tsuna frowned, not liking his choice of words, _"I think he's alright…"_

Alessandro shook his head, dark brown hair swaying at the movement, _"He is not. Absolutely not. He may be strong, but he has no manners. You have heard of the Cradle incident, haven't you? And he tried killing you once, too, didn't he, Decimo? Heard what he did to you; as far as I'm concerned, he is a bloody traitor, and traitors shouldn't be a part of Vongola. Heard he wanted to lead Vongola! Ha! What a joke! If you ask me, Nono should have kicked him out of the job the moment he went about murdering his own Famiglia. Xanxus simply tarnishes Vongola's name. I'm damn sure that behind the scenes, he is cooking up ways to overthrow the Vongola or lead it or kill every one of its people. You know how people like them are, don't you? If he can't get it, he won't allow others to."_

By the end of Alessandro's speech, Tsuna was positively seething inside. He took in a deep breath, and ran the Italian's words in his mind, and then glanced at the man. Their gazes locked, and the dark-skinned man's speech trailed of uncertainly.

"I'd really appreciate," Tsuna stated calmly, seeing through a light shade of liquid fire. Odd, he didn't remember having switched to Hyper Dying Will Mode, "if you'd _never _badmouth _my _family in front of me, ever again, is that clear? Xanxus is the _best _out there, and as for him being the leader of the Varia? _He is the best, _got it? And he _is not _a _traitor _and he _loves _his family more than anything, so if I _ever _hear you saying otherwise, the consequences will _not _be good for you, understand?"

Tsuna had unconsciously spoken in Japanese, but considering the way Alessandro spluttered, he concluded that the Italian knew Japanese.

"_But, Decimo—he tried to _kill _you! Any sane person should hate him for what he has do—"_

"Then I guess I am not sane, am I? And Xanxus does _not _'tarnish' Vongola's name, you hear me? _Do not even __**dare **__to __**think**__ otherwise._"

Alessandro gaped, and Tsuna vaguely noticed how the man was sweating a bit. It was funny, considering how cool the room was.

Tsuna glanced at the door, and then at the Barsetti, "Please leave. I'd like to rest. Thank you."

There was an odd pause and then the man got up a bit shakily, with a soft, _"Of course, Decimo."_

As the dark Italian left, Tsuna receded back to his bed, failing to notice the familiar flutter of a black sleeve disappearing down his door's right.

* * *

><p>Alessandro all but ran back to his room, heart thudding wildly in his chest as he shut the door loudly behind him, making sure to lock it. He checked again that it was, indeed, locked, before re-checking it, and then re-re-checking it, and then re-re-re-checking it. Once he was damn sure that it was securely locked, he bolted the door, chained it carefully, shoved his couch towards it, just in case, and then slid down the wall, falling on the floor ungracefully. He took in a deep breath, intending for the action to calm his nerves.<p>

It didn't.

He was scared of a _fourteen year old. _A—fucking!—_fourteen year old!_

His Boss would be so _mad. _

"_The heck's wrong with me?!" _he muttered to himself furiously.

The kid was scary, no doubt. His _eyes _were so cold and calculating, as if staring right into his soul, and, for a heart stopping minute, he had been convinced that his cover had been blown. Alessandro shuddered, clammy, and quickly drank a glass of water. His throat felt absurdly dry.

If there was one thing he learned from the meeting, it was that getting on the kid's good side was absolutely impossible now. The protectiveness of the kid towards his ex-murderers was startling, frankly, and Alessandro was half convinced that the kid was possibly a bit loose in the head.

It didn't make _sense, _though!

Frankly, Alessandro's thoughts had been relatively simple—badmouth Xanxus, something he had been pretty damn sure the kid would have eagerly taken part in, given the history between the two, and then get the other's trust.

But, noooooooooo! The kid just **had **to be an affectionate idiot, didn't he?!

_Dammit to hell!_

* * *

><p>Tsuna woke up sometime during dinner.<p>

He hadn't _meant _to wake up, but Reborn was there, and so were guns and hammers and a boomerang and, well, the rest was pretty self explanatory.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, _Reborn! _Injured person here!"

Reborn left him abruptly, and Tsuna shrieked as he nearly fell out of the window and into the familiar dark waters below. How he had come to the position of nearly being thrown out of the window was something he'd rather not recall, so he did not, and sat on the floor, massaging a bruised rib.

"Muuuurrrggghhhh."

Reborn hit him again for making such an uncivilized noise.

Tsuna glared at him, but intelligently chose not to comment, "What are you doing here? I thought you were giving me the silent treatment or something."

Reborn rose a bushy brow (he was still in that puke-worthy and horrid get-up), "I wasn't giving you the 'silent treatment', Dame-Tsuna. What made you think that?"

Tsuna shrugged. Reborn hit him with a green stick for that.

"_Fine. _Just stop _hitting _me, will you? I mean, you did not try to murder me for falling into the sea, so I thought you were ignoring me…"

He immediately regretted having said that. Reborn's expression definitely did not spell anything good for his physiology.

"You _missed _me hitting you, then, Tsuna?"

"What?! No, no, no, _no _that's _not _what I meant, Rebborn! Reborn? Reborn?! _Reborn! What the hell is that! Noooo—_"

He was beaten to a bloody pulp. Tsuna decided that he hated his mouth.

Nursing many bruised somethings, Tsuna did not have enough energy for even glaring at Reborn and putting enough heat in that endeavor. So he settled to asking what the tiny hitman was doing in his room.

Reborn paused, turned, looked at Tsuna, thought for a while and then recalled the reason for his arrival apart from the need to 'beat the life out of my beloved and very-loved student just for the hell of it.'

"Dinner. Downstairs. Get ready."

And that was that.

* * *

><p>Except that wasn't that.<p>

Tsuna arrived at the dining hall and instantly regretted doing so.

The _Varia _were there, Xanxus sitting on the head of the other side of the table, legs propped crudely on top of the clothed, wooden surface, fascinatingly as rabid as ever. Members of the group which would surely be responsible for turning Tsuna bald thirty years too early, if the brunette ever decided to take over the Vongola, which he would not (_stop thinking about it!),_ were present, too. The plates were clean and empty—dinner hadn't started yet, then.

The other seats were occupied by chattering students as they readied themselves for dinner, no doubt excited at the prospect. He also noticed the little helpful tags with the names of the students, allotting them to their respective seats, noticed his own, and then froze.

At the head of the table, beaming proudly, was a tag with _own _name, and—

_This __**is **__Reborn's doing, isn't it?_

Obviously it was. Everything fucked up was always Reborn's doing.

The six seats surrounding his were empty, which meant that his Guardians weren't there yet. He supposed that due to the distance the students from his table, they had not noticed the name of one Sawada Tsunayoshi in the most prominent seat ever created by the brilliant race known as mankind. Tsuna wanted to sob.

In retro respect, the situation wasn't exactly a big deal in itself, but Tsuna very obdurately did not want _any _form of suspicion being created in his general direction or existence, so sitting at the head of the table was a pretty damn big of a deal. So he, very insouciantly (the insouciance of his movement was to such an extent that it could easily make an actor/actress green with envy), exchanged the name tags with the one closest to his allotted seat. He breathed out, and sat down on his newly appointed chair.

His action was followed by the entrance of each of his friends. The last ones to arrive were Gokudera and Yamamoto, the former of which all but screamed in indignation when he saw where he was to sit.

"NO!" he boomed, causing various people (including Xanxus, _holy mother of God!) _to stare at him, "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! TH—THE HEAD OF THE TABLE! I _CAN'T!_"

"Go-Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna called out weakly, having noticed who he had exchanged his own tag with.

"HOW COULD THEY?! HOW _DARE _THEY EVEN **THINK **THAT THE TENTH SHOULD SIT WITH THE _COMMON PEOPLE?!_"

"Haha, 'Dera, it's not that big of a deal!"

"IT IS! TENTH!" Gokudera's head whipped towards Tsuna, "Sit here!"

Tsuna laughed, shook his head, glanced around and laughed again, "No, I'm—er, fine really—"

"Nooooo! Tenth, you _shouldn't._"

"But I don't—"

"Trash, _sit where the scum's telling you to, or _Primo help me, _I'm going to _**gut **you _alive. _You hear me?"

Xanxus' voice shut down any and every protest from Tsuna, as the brunette slinked towards his originally-appointed seat.

So much for his insouciance.

Dinner was a relatively quiet business. Tsuna glanced at Xanxus and 'eeeep'ed when their eyes met. The scarred man continued sulkily or angrily, Tsuna couldn't tell, murdering and re-murdering his steak. Tsuna tried not to think of Lambo as he saw Xanxus repeatedly do that.

He failed.

_I've lost my appetite now…_

* * *

><p><strong>*Ducks three tomatoes, five pineapples and a very suspicious looking spikey weapon*<strong>

**The ending was a bummer, but tried, guys, tried.**

**Review?**


	4. Chapter 4

**THANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEWS!**

**I am speechless—I'm not even **_**sure **_**what else to say because the happiness to know that you guys liked the previous chapter is beyond the English Dictionary's knowledge.  
>There probably are many grammatical errors instances where I have not added some words when necessary. In such cases, please do inform me! I'll correct them as soon as possible!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own. If I did, I would have made this fic a part of the manga.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>For once, Tsuna woke up to no grenades.<p>

It was the oddest feeling _ever. _

Giving a happy sigh, he flopped back onto his bed, staring lazily at the ceiling, realizing just how _lucky _he was to not find himself in a life threatening situation so early. A short glance at the clock informed that it was five in the morning.

_This is good_, he thought to himself.

_Really GOOD._

_Good._

_Good…_

Okay, fine, maybe he _was _missing the machine guns and the grenades and the all too familiar hammer and _what the hell is __**wrong **__with me?!_

He was aware, very much so, that he had hit his head too many times, _but still. _He should be relieved. He knew he should be relieved so why in _God's _name did something feel very wrong with not waking up to various paraphernalia used for the sole purpose of murder? He groaned self depreciatingly, leaving the bed with an annoyed grunt. He hated being so damn fickle minded.

He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, changed into comfortable clothes and left the room with an irate pout. He thought of waking up either Gokudera or Yamamoto, thought otherwise since both of them deserved rest, deciding to walk about aimlessly. A part of him did realize that walking about with no purpose would lead to not-very-good consequences courtesy Reborn, be he failed to find himself caring at the moment. On the way, he bumped into someone, tipping backwards but rooting himself to the ground eventually. One glance up informed him that it was Alessandro.

He could feel his mood darkening.

"Good morning," he greeted cheerfully, reminding himself that, yes, Alessandro _may _have insulted Xanxus, but surely the man had _some _good qualities.

The man gave a very inappropriate shriek, looked at Tsuna, replied with a very hasty, "_G-good mo-morning, Decimo,_" and then ran away.

Tsuna stared at the Alessandro's retreating back with a raised eyebrow. Shrugging, he continued forward and climbed the stairs to reach the deck, surprised to see one Rokudo Mukuro staring out into the sea.

"Good morning," he greeted once he was side to side with the illusionist.

Mukuro gave him a subtle glance and nodded, not greeting back.

Tsuna was fine with it, preferring the soothing silence himself, so he imitated Mukuro's action and stared at the waters below. The sun was still rising, the sky a pale orange. He could see birds flying, graceful and white, finding himself calming at the effect of the early morning. He may have had seen the rising sun over a thousand times, with Reborn, but he could never find himself getting tired of it.

He grinned at the thought.

"You have the grin of a fool, Tsunayoshi-kun," Mukuro commented with amusement.

"Maybe I _am _a fool," Tsuna replied, "makes sense now, you know?"

"Does it?"

"Yep," Tsuna said cheerfully, "Can't really find myself complaining, though. Something must be wrong with me."

Mukuro snorted, but the slight tilt of the taller male's lips was an indication that the Mist Flame user understood. It was good to know.

"My mom wanted to see you."

Mukuro raised an eyebrow, "Did she, now?"

"Yeah. Ken and Chikusa, too. I'm sure they'd love to have my mom's cooking. She says that you guys are too thin and ill-looking for her liking," Tsuna laughed softly, but glanced at Mukuro, serious, "and I can't find myself disagreeing. Chrome's in better condition now, since she has decided to stay with Kyoko-chan, but I can't say the same for you guys."

"Worried for li'l ol' me, Tsunayoshi-kun?"

"Yes." The answer was immediate, "You should come by more often—or I'll drag you guys back to my place. Since your health is at stake, don't think I won't."

Mukuro laughed, staring at Tsuna's unwavering gaze, "Oh my, imperious like a _Boss_, aren't you?" There was a little sneer at the word 'Boss'. Tsuna noticed it.

"It's called 'caring', Mukuro. As a friend, I _am _worried."

"I never asked you to be worried."

"But I _am._" Tsuna insisted, placing a light palm on the other's forearm, "I can't just stop worrying because you _ask _me to, Mukuro. Just… please come. At least once a week, okay?"

Mukuro did not reply, prevaricating, "I'm surprised she likes me at all."

Tsuna noticed the digression, lips pursing, but chose to leave the topic. For now.

"Mom? Why won't she like you?"

"First impressions aren't really my thing. I'm sure you're aware of that."

Tsuna laughed, recalling _their _first meeting, "Do not regret that, though."

"Neither do I. But I must say, I'm surprised that _you _don't."

Tsuna shrugged, as though the answer was pretty obvious, "If things were to proceed differently, maybe our relationship now would have been different. Maybe I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet Chrome. Maybe we wouldn't have even been _friends_. I don't think I'd like that. So, yes, I don't regret a thing."

Something shifted in the heterochromatic eyes, but before Tsuna could decipher anything, Gokudera's hysterical voice broke through.

"Teeeeennnttthhhh!"

Tsuna glanced at Mukuro in half-amusement, and the illusionist only shook his head, disappearing in a flurry of Mist Flame just as Gokudera turned around the corner and stepped into the deck.

"Tenth!" he said breathlessly as he a jogged towards Tsuna, "_Thank God _you're alright!"

"You should stop worrying so much, Gokudera-kun."

Gokudera gave a sheepish grin, "Sorry. I didn't find you in your room so I thought…"

Tsuna smiled, "Where's Yamamoto?"

"Last I checked, he was still sleeping. That _idiot._ Anyway, how's your leg? It's fine, right?"

Tsuna nodded, "Yeah. Onii-san did a good job."

Gokudera breathed out in relief, "Good. That _bastard. _Are you sure you don't want me to kill Xanxus?"

"I'm _sure._"

"Hundred percent?"

"_Gokudera-kun!_"

"But, Tenth—! I _really _wouldn't mind, you know!"

Tsuna patted the other's shoulder, "I know you wouldn't. Anyway, I'm hungry. Let's go down, shall we?"

* * *

><p>Arashi saw Tsuna sit almost tentatively on the chair. At the head of the table.<p>

Maybe sitting there wasn't _that _big of a deal, but, then the scarred guy who looked like the Boss of some underground, evil nation or something, had been sitting on the _other _end of the table last night during dinner, and, surely, that was nothing but a mere coincidence, right? He caught Takahira's gaze, and it was safe to say that the other boy's thoughts were probably the same as his.

But still, that did not explain how Dame-Tsuna knew the Evil-Boss.

The—what did they refer to themselves as again?—_Varia _weren't there. Tsuna was sending worried glances at the door, and, considering that all the brunette's friends had been _very coincidentally _allotted seats next to and around the brunette, Arashi guessed that Tsuna was waiting for the Varia.

Why and how he knew of the Varia was an unsolved mystery. He knew that, like the rest of his classmates, something was wrong with Tsuna. And he was determined to find out what.

The door burst open with a loud 'BANG!' (It reminded Arashi of a gun, but, surely, _that _was his imagination, right?), and a loud booming voice interrupted the idle chatter of the students.

"VOOOOOIIII!" the silver haired man—Squalo—boomed, "ARE YOU IN THERE, BABY BOSS?!"

Tsuna, who was in the middle of biting onto a toast, yelped and stood up hastily, "Ye-yes?"

All heads turned to Tsuna who looked like he was _really _regretting standing up.

_Baby boss, _Arashi thought in his head, frowning, _is that supposed to mean something?_

"BOSS WANTS TO MEET YOU!"

Tsuna gulped, "He… he does? Why…?"

"FUCK IF I KNOW! JUST MEET HIM! GODDAMMIT, HE HAS BEEN _SULKING _AND IT'S PISSING ME OFF!"

Tsuna visibly paled, questioning with a very small voice, "He's been… sulking?"

Gokudera Hayato came to his rescue, "What the hell should the Tenth go to meet him?! Tell _him _to come, why don't you?!"

Arashi raised an eyebrow. Gokudera knew him too?

He paused. Well… that _did _make sense, did it not? Gokudera was an Italian, too, wasn't he? Last he heard, Gokudera was rich, apparently. So…

Arashi's eyes widened. Gokudera was somehow related to the Vongola, then? That was… not really surprising, suddenly. That also explained how Tsuna knew the mystery group known as the Varia.

But why did the scarred man want to meet _Tsuna_ of all people?

"BECAUSE," Squalo's voice boomed yet again, bringing Arashi back to the present, "BOSS DOES NOT WANT TO WASTE HIS ENERGY BY WALKING TO MEET SCUMS OF THE UNIVERSE. AND I AGREE."

Yamamoto laughed, and Squalo glared at the boy. He waved his hand in an apologetic gesture, and Squalo huffed. Gokudera looked ready to argue again, rising from his seat, but Tsuna placed a hand on the silver haired boy's shoulder, lightly. There was a moment where the two merely stared at each other, eyes locked, and Arashi had a feeling that the two were _communicating. _His classmates shifted, awkward, because the little action between the two was somehow very… intimate? No, that wasn't correct.

It was… _trusting._ As if they understood and had complete faith in each other, not requiring words to get a point across.

Arashi felt as if he was intruding. None of Tsuna's friends seemed to be bothered, though, and a part of Arashi found it a bit odd.

Finally Gokudera huffed, sitting down with an unpleased scowl, and Tsuna smiled. He looked at Squalo with a small smile morphed into a strained one, "I'll meet him after breakfast."

Squalo nodded, snorting, and turned around to leave, muttering something under his breath about 'making me the goddamn _messenger_, that asshole.'

Tsuna looked around him, at the students who were blatantly staring at him, and wished to be swallowed up by the floor.

* * *

><p>Xanxus was <em>furious.<em>

And touched.

But since he did not do being 'touched', he decided to remain furious because that was an emotion he was all too familiar with. And, contrary to Squalo's firm belief he was _not _sulking since Xanxus did not do 'sulking', either (okay, maybe he _did _sulk, once, but that was a _long _time ago and he had been defeated by a wimpy _Middle Schooler—_but that's besides the _fucking point)_.

He had seen Sawada Tsunayoshi standing up for _him _during the boy's talk with the Italian scum whose name he wouldn't give a single fuck to remember. He didn't _get _the kid.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?! I tried to _kill him _and that _fucking IDIOT_!"

He slammed his knee against the fighter robot's mechanical chest, ducking a too-slow swipe towards his head by the useless mechanical trash. He stepped back, dodging the razor sharp blade which would have otherwise left a scar in his chest, shooting the damned machine with his Flame enabled gun, watching with irritation as the useless piece of junk cackled and exploded in bright orange flames, leaving a pile of useless metallic scrap in its wake.

"_I'd really appreciate if you'd never badmouth my family in front of me, is that clear? Xanxus is the best out there, and as for him being the leader of the Varia? He is the best, got it? And he is not a traitor and he loves his family more than anything, so if I ever hear you saying otherwise, the consequences will not be good for you, understand?"_

"Useless _trash,_" he muttered under his breath, for once not sure whether he was referring to the brown haired scum or the robotic scum, though a part of him knew the answer to that.

"Oi, Boss," he heard Squalo say, voice a low, bored drawl.

Xanxus didn't care if the sword master was dying out of boredom or not. Xanxus wanted to blow up things, and even he was aware that destroying the ship considering that he was _in _it was a very stupid thing to do. So here he was, trying to satisfy himself with the measly 'weapons' created by some unknown weapon expert in Vongola. He made a vague, mental note to kill the creator of the supposed murdering-robot—if _this _was the level of Vongola's weapons, Vongola would go down very easily.

He heard Squalo sigh. He didn't give a fucking damn.

Just as he was about to send another robot out of the ship and to some random, unknown, faraway country, a familiar shriek resounded.

"HIIIIIIII—!"

A tile of the roof of the room slid to its right, and Sawada Tsunayoshi came barreling through.

* * *

><p>When Tsuna, with a quick nod to a still-suspicious-Gokudera, left, Takahira decided to follow the boy. He sent a quick glance to Arashi, nodded, and then pointed discretely in Tsuna's direction. Arashi gave him a nod of confirmation and mouthed a quick 'meet me later'. There were other students sending not-so-discrete glances at Tsuna, too, which was understandable. Takahira sneaked out and managed to not look to suspicious whilst doing that.<p>

He allowed Tsuna to walk a few paces, before following the boy, making sure to not make any sound. By some God-given miracle, the corridors were otherwise empty.

He noticed Tsuna tensing twice—which shouldn't have been possible because Takahira knew that he was very stealthy—so he ducked and hid behind the walls, only continuing his endeavor when the short male continued walking.

Tsuna turned around a corner and—

"HIIIII—!"

Worried, Takahira peered around the corner, only to find no one there.

Dame-Tsuna had disappeared.

* * *

><p>Tsuna was, as he found the floor giving away, pretty sure that this was Reborn's doing, too.<p>

After all, since Tsuna _had _wanted to be swallowed by the floor and Reborn, being the caring tutor that he was, would, _obviously_, not venture to disappoint Tsuna. He landed on something hard yet soft, which was a pleasant surprise since he had been very much ready to find his hip broken in the near future.

"_Ow…"_

"Get the fuck _off _me, trash!"

Tsuna screamed, and hastily got off the fellow Sky-Flame user, instantly creating a distance of about twenty feet in between them.

"Xanxus! You… you wanted to see me?"

Xanxus raised an unimpressed brow, "And that was your entry, was it?"

"Eh…"

Xanxus' eyebrow twitched. Tsuna gulped.

"Fight."

"Huh?"

"Are you deaf? Can't you fucking _hear, _scum?"

"…" It wasn't that Tsuna had not heard the man. He _had_, and that was the problem.

He just wished that he had heard wrong.

"_Look,_" Xanxus gritted out, annoyed, "if you _are _going to be the damn Decimo, you'd better _not _slack off, y'hear? If you do, I'm fucking killing you, got that?"

Tsuna _did _get that, but wished he didn't, so, in case he had gotten 'that' wrong (since Tsuna had always been the hopeful sort), he tried asking again. But before he could open his mouth, Xanxus fired his gun and Tsuna ducked, expertly using his right foot to give the ground a slight kick, darting to his left. Xanxus' gun didn't rest—Tsuna didn't expect it to, anyway—and the brunette almost announced, _yet again_, that he had _no _wish, _whatsoever_, to become the Decimo, and then groaned when he remembered that people generally tended to ignore him whenever he said that. This certainly wasn't how he was expecting his meeting with Xanxus to go.

Who the hell was he trying to lie to?

This was _exactly _how he was expecting the meeting to go, given how obdurately cruel Fate was.

He squeaked, shallowly dodging a burst of Wrath Flames, aware that the tip of his hair had caught fire. Nullifying it with his own Flames by patting the region, he fumbled with his gloves and, still running and evading with many, unnecessary movements, swallowed two pills.

When he glanced at Xanxus through light, assuring, orange, he noticed how the man's savage grin had widened.

* * *

><p>Gokudera's senses tingled. He paused, frowned, looked around and shrugged.<p>

Three minutes later, the door banged open, and a somewhat familiar boy stepped in, sweating.

"Dame-Tsuna!" he rasped out, and Gokudera's gut twisted, eyes growing wide, anxious. "He—he's—"

"Spit it _out!_" he ordered, not giving the boy enough time to catch his breath. He ignored the word 'Dame'. For now.

As soon as Gokudera started taking menacing steps forward, Takahira—_ah! That _was his name!—promptly came to the conclusion that the task of taking in oxygen when he desperately required it was not of importance.

(Because, frankly, asphyxiation seemed like a better method to go to the afterlife than leaving that task to a certain silver haired classmate who suddenly resembled Satan himself.)

"He disappeared!"

Silence.

"What do you mean 'disappeared'?" Gokudera asked slowly, ignoring the sudden murmur of the students present in the dining hall at the news.

"I don'tknow! He was _there_, I swear, but then he turned around this corner, he just—!"

Gokudera opened his mouth to demand a better answer, but a slight touch of his right shoulder from Yamamoto Takeshi made him reconsider. He took a breath, and looked at Takahira.

"Can you show me where he disappeared?"

Takahira nodded nervously.

He wasn't surprised to find that that the other classmates (around ten of them) also had also decided to join them. They were curious, he supposed. Sasagawa Ryohei and his sister, Chrome Dokuro, the unknown man with the spear and a few other students weren't there, having left soon after having finished breakfast. He _was _surprised at the arrival of Hibari Kyoya, though.

"What are you doing here, Hibari?" Gokudera demanded, but Takahira could see how the other didn't exactly seem to mind the prefect's presence.

"He is a student of Namimori Middle." Hibari replied, as if that was enough of an answer. It actually was.

Takahira led them to the corridor where Tsuna had disappeared, watching mutely as Gokudera Hayato stared at the floor, a subtle frown on his face.

A sudden "AHA!" had him flinching.

"You sensed him?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yeah!" Gokudera said excitedly, and Takahira just stared.

Fine. Okay, yes, he _knew _that Gokudera respected Dame-Tsuna to the point of worshipping the weak-willed male, but _sensing? That _was plain _creepy._

"Great! Where is he?" Yamamoto asked urgently.

What was a bit disturbing was that Yamamoto did not seem to find Gokudera's… _talent _to exceed even the best stalker even a bit disturbing.

"Downstairs!" Gokudera declared, and rushed towards the mentioned area via three flights of stairs.

Takahira watched, trying not to twitch, as the silver haired teenager tracked down Dame-Tsuna in a very dog-like manner, except that sniffing wasn't involved. Hibari followed them impassively, while the guys (including Takahira and Arashi) were snickering at Gokudera, and if the boy in question was bothered by that, he was doing a good job of pretending not to. The girls, on the other hand, were finding the silver haired male 'adorable' and Takahira had to wonder what the hell was wrong with people.

They stood, fifteen minutes later, staring at a wall.

Gokudera frowned, "He… he's there."

Ymamoto frowned, too, "I can't see a door. There is no entrance, 'Dera. It's simply a wall. Maybe you were wrong—"

"_Hell no! _This is the Tenth, and you _know _I've never been wrong about that!"

Yamamoto laughed and waved his hand in a pacifying gesture, "Calm down—"

"Tenth's there—!"

"He's obviously not, Gokudera-kun. Stop _kidding,_" Arashi spoke up, annoyed, "We came all the way here in search of him, but he's not there. Get that across your head, why don't you?"

"You bastard! You don't _know anything—_"

"Move."

Hibari's voice was cold, sharp and clear. Gokudera and Yamamoto, experts that they were, moved away from the front of the wall and, milliseconds later, a chain broke through cement, leaving dust and a broken wall in its wake.

* * *

><p>When the wall on the other side of the supposed secret training room gave away, Tsuna was in the middle of digging his foot into Xanxus' torso. The distraction allowed Xanxus to effectively block the hit, clasping onto the boy's ankle, sending him flying towards the ground. Xanxus landed and sent him a disdainful glare.<p>

"_First of all," _the man spoke in Italian, _"never _ever _get distracted in a fight. How the hell you've even survived this long is still a mystery to me since you evidently seem to be unaware of such a simple fact."_

Tsuna knew what the other had said, but didn't reply. Through the suspended dust particles, he could vaguely make out the silhouette of Hibari. He could hear coughs, too. Many coughs. Evidently belonging to different people.

_Garh. You're kidding me._

Barely thinking, he allowed his Hyper Dying Will Mode to recede, the fire on his forehead sizzling out of existence as he scrambled up and expertly hid behind Xanxus.

Xanxus glared, "What the hell are you—"

"Erm. Um, hide me…?"

Xanxus looked just about ready to murder him, but Hibari's voice broke in.

"Is the omnivore here?"

Xanxus glanced back at Tsuna, who shook his head meekly.

"He's not." Xanxus replied.

Tsuna stared at the man, incredulous, because for _him _to…

Well. This was good, he supposed. Xanxus might have scared him, but he still liked the man.

There was a pause of disbelief.

"TENTH!"

"Tsuna!"

"He's not here, herbivores."

"But—"

"Get the fuck out." Xanxus ordered, "_Now."_

There was another pause, during which Tsuna figured that they were occupying themselves in a glaring competition. Xanxus seemed to win, judging by the sound of shuffling feet. A whirring noise followed, and when Xanxus finally moved, the wall was miraculously repaired. That, he guessed, explained the whirring.

"Thank you—"

"Did you just take me as your shield?" Xanxus' voice was low, dangerous.

Tsuna blinked, "What—? NO! I'd _never—_"

"_Trash."_

Xanxus set his liger on him.

* * *

><p><strong>So, how's it? I <strong>_**am **_**making this a family fic, which is why the whole conversation between Mukuro and Tsuna takes place. The ending may have been a bit rushed, but I its ****3 in the morning and... yeah. Not even had coffee.**

**Reviews are needed for my, and therefore this fic's, survival!**


	5. Chapter 5

**OH MY GOD! So many reviews! Shit, I had literally been squealing with excitement while reading them! I'm so glad that so many people like this fic!**

**There's something I am going to mention—Tsuna's going to be (somewhat) sarcastic in this fic. Which isn't OOC at all, actually. If you read the manga, you'd see that Tsuna has always **_**been **_**the sarcastic sort, but has not been very vocal about it. Oh, and Tsuna's behavior is based on what he was like in the last two arcs of the manga—I doubt anyone can be a mumbling mess after doing what he has done (which involves having the meeting with the people who have tried to kill him, defeating Bermuda, Daemon Spade and all that).**

**Here's chapter five!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Tsuna exited through one of the secret doors in the secret training room, happy to leave Xanxus and Bester alone; the latter had, over the past few hours, grown awfully fond him to the point where digging his claws or sinking his teeth or trying to Petrify Tsuna to death gave the liger immense satisfaction. Everyone Tsuna associated with were sadists in one form or another, he thought morosely, needing rest and a good, warm, preferably fluffy, bed.<p>

He hadn't had lunch and, judging by the darkness outside, wouldn't get the opportunity to have dinner, either.

He sighed despondently. He really _was _hungry, but he supposed he would survive. Under Reborn, he had easily gone through worse, which was a good thing, he reminded himself. It gave him enough practice to starve.

Sadists.

He climbed the stairs, dazedly noticing how his feet created a dull, almost unheard, 'thunk' on the steel surface below with each step. Barely paying attention to his surroundings, he bumped into someone, falling back, but clutching onto the barrister sharply as he tried to hold himself still.

"You shouldn't loiter around in the night, herbivore."

He got hit by something very familiar, and he yelped, startled, tipped back and fell on the ground.

"Hi-Hibari-san!" he protested, landing on his back. He peered up at the prefect, who was staring at him. Hibari did not look really surprised, demanding him to _get up._

Tsuna did so, almost immediately, wondering why the urge to salute took over him. He resisted it, and felt like grinning. He had no idea why.

A bit disturbing, admittedly.

Hibari gave him a dry look, eyes roving over his body, taking in the bruises and scratches courtesy of a probable man eating liger. Something flickered in the other's eyes—the sort of look which Tsuna _really _did not appreciate because it, inadvertently, meant that skylark was about to demand a fight from _him, _and Tsuna was seriously against obliging to that request, thank you very much. He tried inching away, but Hibari, easily being taller than Tsuna, blocked him.

Tsuna hated his height.

"You were training." Not a question. Simply stating a fact.

A part of Tsuna figured that saying _yes _or _no _were both bad ideas because the former comment would lead to Hibari demanding a fight from him while the latter would lead to getting hit on the face by a tonfa.

Neither option seemed appealing.

He went for a lame: "Um…"

Annoyance flickered in grey.

"Don't get lost again. You had us worried, herbivore."

If it weren't for how Hibari's eyes narrowed, just a bit, after saying the sentence, Tsuna wouldn't have really thought much about one specific word used in the prefect's sentence.

_Us._

That included Hibari too, didn't it? It was… surprising, Tsuna had to admit, given how indifferent Hibari seemed to anything concerning how much Tsuna took the other as a family. He smiled at the prefect, giddy, and almost laughed right then and there when Hibari whammed him on the head with a tonfa and stalked away, head held high, parting with a simple instruction:

"Get back to your room, herbivore, or I'll bite you to death."

Tsuna noticed how Hibari tended to call him 'herbivore' in his presence and 'omnivore' when the prefect thought he wasn't there. He wondered what that meant.

* * *

><p>The next morning Tsuna had to apologize to Gokudera God-knows how many times, trying to keep the guilt of having worried the silver haired male at bay, but failing miserably. He got scolded by Ryohei, but was later forgiven (though, strictly speaking, he wasn't at fault since escaping Xanxus at that moment had seemed pretty much impossible), while Yamamoto gave him the familiar 'I forgive you, Tsuna, but don't ever do that again, haha' look while Chrome and Kyoko both smiled at him, telling him that they were glad that he was unharmed.<p>

(If only they knew that he was about to be eaten up by a cat yesterday.)

Reborn hit him with a green, mini, but _absurdly _hard bookshelf, claiming that worrying his subordinates was a very un-Decimo like thing to do.

Tsuna glared at him, "You were the one who did it, aren't you?"

Reborn gave him an innocent look which served to increase Tsuna's suspicions even more.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Reborn said, voice still high pitched as he waved his hand in a dismissing gesture, "You're getting late for breakfast, Tsuna. It would not be good if you fall sick."

Tsuna was just about to point out that falling sick was actually a good thing since he was still very much against the trip, but Reborn literally kicked him into the dining hall. Tsuna half barreled, half stumbled into the hall, pushing the closed double doors with a loud _thud_, gulping when all eyes fell on him. Trying to shake off the awkwardness, he strode towards his chair and sat reluctantly on it, vaguely noticing that the Varia were not present.

His Guardians were there, and Gokudera immediately greeted him with a jubilant 'Tenth!', while Hibari, unsurprisingly, ignored him and proceeded to glaring at Mukuro, who was looking smug for some reason.

Tsuna noticed how eyes were _still _fixed on him.

"Uh." He started, addressing the other people present.

Arashi was the one to say something back, "Where the hell were you, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna noticed how Gokudera's head immediately whipped in Arashi's direction, not missing the rudeness in Arashi's voice. Tsuna gave him a stern look. Gokudera relaxed, if only minutely.

"Downstairs." He replied.

"Don't _lie_, idiot." Arashi said.

Yamamoto and Ryohei stiffened at the insult. Tsuna gave them a stern look, too. They relaxed, albeit only a bit. Not very assuring.

"We split up in search for you, but you weren't there," Takahira explained, "You disappeared. Where were you?"

Arashi scoffed, "Don't you get it? He wants attention. That's how people like him are."

"_Bastard," _Gokudera hissed, "what do you mean by 'people like hi—"

"People who want attention," Arashi snapped, "people who are incapable of doing anything on their own and whine and demand attention. Performing underhanded tricks to get people to look at them."

Tsuna wondered whether the boy had a death wish. It seemed very likely, which was not a good thing, since Gokudera looked too much like a wish-granter for Tsuna's comfort. People were obviously getting swayed by Arashi's words, sending Tsuna not-so-pleased looks as they muttered among themselves. It should have bothered Tsuna, but it didn't, especially since Gokudera's fingers were itching towards the dynamites, he had kept hidden God knows where, busy in a heated glaring competition with Arashi. Chrome's hand was twitching a bit, too.

The sudden tension came to an abrupt halt by the arrival of Belphegor.

"Ushishishishi. Looks like cats are fighting, doesn't it?"

Gokudera sent the Storm Flame user a weary look, breaking eye contact with Arashi, who looked offended at the blatant dismissal.

"Fuck off," Gokudera said.

Belphegor did that hissing laugh like thing again, "Oh my, we can't have people getting angry at the Prince now, can we?"

Gokudera gave him a 'what the hell do you want?' stare, to which Bel shrugged.

"Boss wants to meet Baby Boss. Right now."

"Hell _no. _Tenth's hungry, and as his Right Hand, I decline the request from the Tenth's side."

"Gokudera-kun, it's alright." Gokudera opened his mouth to protest, but shut it. Tsuna looked at Bel, sighing, "I'll meet him. After breakfast."

"Ushishishi. Looks like the Baby Boss has become deaf; I did say right now, didn't I?"

"But—"

"_Right now."_

Tsuna sighed, rising up from his seat. If he had a death wish, he would have been busy growling at Xanxus to leave him the hell alone because he was fucking _hungry_, but since he didn't… following Bel out was his only option.

"What does he want from me _now?_"

Bel's look couldn't be deciphered. Tsuna just hoped that the grin on the Prince's face didn't mean anything.

Since Bel was obviously too royal to walk up or down the stairs, he took a lift, which meant awkward silence in the gold plated (because, really, Bel wouldn't have steeped into lift otherwise and the Vongola was filth _rich)_ metallic box. Tsuna cursed the awkward lift music, and also the awkwardness of the situation, and the fact that lift, golden plated and lavish that it was, seemed to move at a half-sleeping snail's pace. The awkwardness increased, and Tsuna's eyebrow twitched at regular intervals. Having enough, he asked the question that had been bothering him for a pretty long time.

"Um, Bel-san?"

Bel looked at him questioningly. If the other's eyebrows could be seen (or if he had eyebrows in the first place, at any rate), Tsuna had a feeling that they would be raised.

"How do you see?"

Pause.

Bel was giving him the classic 'wtf' look.

Feeling idiotic, Tsuna continued, "Um, I mean, your hair covers your eyes and…"

Bel was looking at him as if he had grown another head. Or as if Tsuna was the first one to ask him such a dumb to the point of being sad question.

"Well. Um. Yeah. So, how do you see?"

Bel was still giving him that look. Tsuna was literally performing a ritual in his head to increase the speed of the lift.

"X-Ray eyes?" he ventured lamely.

"You say some pretty amusing things, Baby Boss."

Tsuna gave an awkward laugh. Further awkwardness ensued.

When the lift finally came to a halt, and the doors buzzed open, Tsuna happily hurled himself towards the lion's den. Figuratively speaking, that is.

Actually, _literally _speaking, because Bester was there, and technicality aside, he _was _a sort-of-lion, wasn't he? Bester lifted his head to give him a blithe once over, ear twitching. Tsuna stood, still, staring into the feline's eyes, for a moment realizing just how _beautiful _the creature looked. The liger's head tipped to his right, giving what Tsuna supposed was a shrug, before going back to what he was doing previously—dozing off. Breathing out, Tsuna looked around the room, finding Squalo looking at him in an appraising manner, arms crossed over his chest, sitting on a bean chair.

Beside the swordsman was Grande Pioggia Squalo, otherwise known by the simple name Alo, who was swimming freely in a cylindrical fish tank. Bel left for one of the many rooms, throwing an insouciant wave at the two (four, if he included the ring-box-weapons). Forcing his eyebrows not to twitch at the blatant lack of one Xanxus in the room, and cursing himself for not having grabbed a toast or _something _to eat before following Bel into the Varia's living quarters, Tsuna's eyes followed the movement of the blue and white fish.

Squalo watched as Sawada walked up to Alo, and placed a palm on the smooth, cylindrical surface. Intrigued, Alo swam up to the Baby Boss, and if the glass weren't present, Sawada's hand would have been on Alo's nose.

"Thank you," Tsuna whispered, smiling, emotions in his eyes genuine, "for saving me."

Squalo rolled his eyes.

_So __**soft.**_

He paused, imitating Alo, eyebrows climbing up when Alo _wagged _his tail.

In a dog like manner.

And if Squalo didn't know better, he would have _also _said that Grande Piogge Squalo was _smiling. __**Fucking **__**smiling.**_

Alo never did that. Hell, Squalo wasn't even aware that sharks were _capable _of smiling. The Baby Boss was smiling, too and Alo was—

_Oh, hell __**no.**_

Alo smiling was okay with Squalo, really, but _blushing?_

The. Fuck.

"Stop that," he snapped.

Tsuna jerked away from the glass, and Squalo pointedly ignored the glare Alo tossed at him. He also ignored the dog-like-way Alo was looking at Tsuna. That was _ridiculous._

"Squalo-san…?" Tsuna asked tentatively.

"STOP SEDUCING MY SHARK!"

Squalo would have screamed that, but didn't since he _did _have pride—a hefty amount of it, actually—and was aware how ludicrous screaming the above sentence would be, never mind the fact that the Baby Boss was doing just that. Instead he said:

"Leave Alo alone." He might have sounded very possessive, but he was simply freaked out.

The Baby Boss looked hurt, and Alo glared at Squalo in a '_how dare you be responsible for hurting him?' _manner, but Squalo was happy to blame that on his imagination. Sawada moved away from the tank when Squalo's eyes ordered him to do that, standing awkwardly. Squalo huffed.

"So, what did you do to piss off Boss now?"

"I don't know, actually."

Squalo snorted.

"He's angry at me twenty-four-seven, anyway. Gets kind of hard to keep a track on why he wants to kill me next."

The answer to that was pretty obvious to Squalo— Xanxus simply found Baby Boss' face irritating—and he knewthat Sawada knew that too.

* * *

><p>Alessandro refused to believe that he was scared. It hurt his pride.<p>

Even though he refused to believe that, the fact that the Leader of the Varia and the Leader of the goddamn _Vongola _were going against each other like a pair of savage, blood thirsty, possibly cannibalistic dogs was inevitable. Alessandro watched, eyes wide, as Xanxus _snarled, _the urge to scream and run the hell _away _taking over every cell and fiber of his being, despite the fact that the snarl was not directed at him. It was directed at the Vongola Decimo, instead, and said male hardly seemed perturbed.

Alessandro wondered whether his Boss hated him. At this point of time, he was almost convinced of that explanation.

Alessandro had come to know of the Decimo's appearance from one Riccatto Carracci, who had, amongst a lot of hushed whispers, while pointing at a brown haired male, declared one Sawada Tsunayoshi as the Decimo. Unsurprisingly, Alessandro had not known what the Decimo looked like—understandable, really. Vongola was known as the most powerful and influential mafia Family for a reason; waving about their Boss' face on flyers was hardly an option, especially if they did not want their Boss to be found lying, dead, in some random, unknown ditch.

The lesser the information on a Family, the stronger the Family was. As simple as that. And a part of Alessandro's job was to gather more information—make the Vongola a bit weaker, in a manner of speaking. Making Vongola weak would take possible _centuries_, he was aware; the fact that it was the _Vongola _was enough of a reason as to why.

But, thing was, rumors about the Decimo had been circulating. Claiming how utterly undefeatable and _strong _the Decimo and his Guardians were, the exaggerations had seemed as only that—exaggerations.

Now, though, Alessandro was half convinced that everything rumored around the Vongola Decimo was true; he wasn't sure about the Guardians, yet, however.

Alesandro wanted to run. But Xanxus had demanded his presence because the random, unknown liger apparently hated Alessandro and had taken a liking to trying to bite his arm off.

And Bester did not even know him.

* * *

><p>Tsuna was, thankfully, excused for dinner, which, evidently, meant that he had not had the opportunity to have lunch. <em>Again.<em>

Tsuna wished that he could apply makeup. At least, that way, he would have been able to hide the black eye he was sporting. Reborn would _maim _him if the hitman saw him like this. The only comfort was that Tsuna had succeeded in making Xanxus bleed, too—a meager comfort, seeing that had not _wanted _to hurt Xanxus in the first place.

He was probably bleeding internally, too. And if Gokudera were to ever see him like _this—_bloody and broken and limping and pretty much having a shitty moment—he'd _freak. _Tsuna did not want Gokudera to freak. Gokudera freaked enough as it was; the last thing he wanted was to kill his best friend by increasing Gokudera's blood pressure and/or stress level.

Which was why, going to the dining hall was a big no-no.

Normally, he would have gone to Ryohei to get himself healed, but going to his big Brother would mean seeing Ryohei freak, and that was not a good thing, either. Ryohei freaking meant the whole ship knowing, and the whole ship knowing meant Gokudera knowing, and _Gokudera _knowing meant possible death of his best friend due to increase in blood pressure and—_yeah._

Yamamoto wasn't kidding. Tsuna worried too much.

He considered going back to his room, and then decided against it. Gokudera and Yamamoto were likely to search for him there first. The both had the key to his room, after all.

So he starved. _Again._

* * *

><p>He met Chrome with Kyoko an hour after lunch-time.<p>

On Tsuna's request, Chrome put an illusion over him.

And that was that.

* * *

><p>Except that wasn't that, and even though it filled him with exasperated consternation, it wasn't surprising. Everything in his life refused to come to a <em>halt <em>and leave him alone, after all.

It happened during dinner. Arashi had been giving him suspicious looks, backed up by Takahira and Kaneda and pretty much everybody with the exception of his friends (Reborn preferred calling them his 'Guardians'; Tsuna preferred to ignore him), while Gokudera had been hovering protectively in front of him, glaring at anyone who even glanced at Tsuna. Tsuna tried to calm him down, but later gave up; he knew for a fact that doing _this _calmed Gokudera down and made him happy, and Tsuna was all for making Gokudera happy. It prevented the appearances of dynamites. Sometimes.

Chrome and Kyoko were giving him worried glances since the two were the only ones to be aware of the fact that every movement ached and that his skin was an unhealthy shade of blue, black, red and purple; Tsuna was aware that Mukuro knew that, too, if he took the illusionist's discreet once over and slight quirking of his lips the moment Tsuna stepped into the hall into account.

Xanxus entered, kicking the door open like he always did, accompanied by Bester. Only Squalo was the other Varia member with the man; Tsuna was glad, because that meant less mental scarring for him.

Xanxus swept into the room like he owned the place (which he probably did. Somewhat.), ignoring the sudden hush which took over.

Everybody's eyes were fixed on Bester who, for the record, looked very, _very _bloodthirsty. For some reason.

The feline stared at everybody, eyes roving over their forms, and Tsuna _knew _that that was a predatory look in the beast's eyes. The gaze of a carnivore looking for food. Everybody not used to death-warranting situations became very, very still, perspiring, staring yet not-quite-staring at Bester, and hoping for the animal to go away. Bester did not, silent yet prowling, which scared everyone even more, especially since a single movement (which also involved breathing and blinking, unfortunately) made Bester growl insidiously.

Nobody dared to make a single sound.

And then Bester's eyes fell on Tsuna and the feline literally _leaped _towards him. Ready to shriek, Tsuna was cut off when somebody _else _shrieked, and a bewildered glance around informed him that the one to shriek was everybody apart from Tsuna, his friends and, obviously, Xanxus and Squalo since it was biologically impossible for them to shriek.

Bester tackled him to the ground, bared his teeth, growled and… licked him?

Gokudera's, Yamamoto's and Ryohei's screams of "Tenth!", "Tsuna!", "SAWADA!", respectively, trailed off uncertainly when Bester licked him again. And again. And again.

Tsuna stood up slowly, bewildered.

He vaguely noticed Xanxus gaping at him. He also vaguely noticed how everybody was looking at him.

Bester mewled and nudged him gently.

Tsuna awkwardly patted the liger's head.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" Xanxus screamed, grabbing Tsuna by the collar. Bester growled, but did not dare to snap at his master.

"Um…?" Tsuna questioned lamely.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO BESTER?!" Xanxus demanded, glaring.

"I did not do any…thing…"

Tsuna heard Squalo snorting after giving Tsuna a 'I can't **believe** this' look. Tsuna wondered why. He did not fail to notice the way Squalo's hand was hiding his Varia Ring, as if fearing Tsuna's influence on Alo.

(In fact, that was _exactly _what he feared, but Tsuna did not know that and he did not needto know that, either.)

Bester occupied the meager space between Xanxus and Tsuna, forcing Xanxus to leave Tsuna. Xanxus glared at both of them, gave a disdainful "Che," and stalked back to his seat.

Bester stayed with Tsuna while Xanxus, sullen and furious, ate. Bester also prevented Tsuna from eating, demanding attention like a spoiled puppy, growling whenever Tsuna diverted his attention from him to food.

A certain someone mentioned that he would be glad to feed Tsuna with a spoon if need be.

Gokudera almost destroyed the ship in order to kill Mukuro.

* * *

><p><strong>I SWEAR TO GOD, THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE THE LAST SHIP BASED CHAPTER!<strong>

**I'm so sorry if this has been boring you guys, but just bear with me. Once I start writing, I can't stop, and then the chapter becomes too long and **_**then **_**I can't put everything in one chapter and… um.**

**Tell me your thoughts disguised as reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I WAS ALMOST ABOUT TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK! LIKE, REALLY! THE SHEER NUMBER OF REVIEWS AND FAVORITES AND FOLLOWS HAD ME OVERWHELMED AND I… ASFLDJKHHHDIXCQWCM!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**I update pretty randomly. Usually on Mondays, but that depends on various factors.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you enjoyed the last!**

* * *

><p>Tsuna had been practically starving himself for the past few days, which was why, when he woke up at ten thirty in the morning—missing breakfast, unfortunately— he did not have the energy to be terrified of Bester's presence on his bed.<p>

It felt quite good, actually—Bester was comfortable to sleep on; the liger was appropriately warm and comforting, so Tsuna didn't mind. Bester was still sleeping, and Tsuna would have copied the beast's action if it weren't for the faint creaking sound of somebody stepping into his room. Eyes flying open, his hand swiftly reached into his pocket, fishing out two pills and his gloves, breath held. Bester twitched, one eye sliding open, otherwise still. Silence, save for the constant creaks.

And then somebody screamed, and Tsuna sat up straight, slipping his gloves over his hands, nearly swallowing the pills when Bester leaped out of the bed and pounced on the intruder.

"OH MY GOD, OH MY GO—! _Get him __**off **__me! HOLY SHI—!"_

Tsuna hurriedly got rid of the gloves, "_Bester! _Leave him!"

Bester ignored him, growling insidiously, and the unlucky intruder under him whimpered pathetically. Panicking, Tsuna shot out off the bed, darting towards Bester immediately.

"IT'S LOOKING AT ME! IT'S—SHIT, LOOK _AT HIS TEETH!_"

"Bester!" Tsuna tried again, unsure about touching the feline (stupid, since he was _sleeping _with it), "It's alright! Leave him, that's _Alessandro—_I _know_ him!"

Bester growled, inching his face towards Alessandro belligerently.

"HOLY EVERYTHING UNBEASTLY! NOOO—WHAT IS IT _DOI—STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY!_"

Tsuna thought of calling Xanxus but struck off the idea almost immediately—either Xanxus would be too lazy to get up and help _him _(of all godforsaken people) or would happily behead Tsuna for showing his face so early in the morning. The latter seemed more likely, and Tsuna wasn't fond of being beheaded. He had had enough experience of people trying to do that to him, and had never found any of them particularly enjoyable.

In a moment of recalling what Natsu enjoyed, Tsuna ran his hands over Bester's fur, pressing at two spots below the liger's ear. Bester paused, stiffening, and Tsuna panicked, regretting his actions immediately. His only comfort was that if Bester turned his attention towards him, he might leave Alessandro alone. Assuming Bester didn't kill the Italian first.

But then Bester purred, eyes drooping.

Blinking, encouraged, Tsuna applied pressure on the spots again, and Bester mewled appreciatively. Like a controlled doll, he shifted closer to Tsuna and rubbed his head against Tsuna's abdomen. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the adorable display of affection, he glanced at the pale Italian questioningly, mouthing:

'_What are you doing here?'_

Alessandro had been staring at him with bafflement or awe, even Alessandro wasn't sure, though he had a feeling that it was a mixture of both, with sprinkles of the emotion 'fear of Sawada Tsunayoshi' added to it because, definitely, taming a Beast of Hell wasn't a very human thing to do. And his Boss wanted him to kill _this _kid. _This _kid, _specifically. _

"I, um, somebody called Resu asked me to send you break— shit, _tell it to stop looking at me like that!_"

"Bester!" Tsuna reprimanded like one would reprimand a five year old caught stuffing chocolate in his mouth, "Stop it!"

Bester whimpered, gazing at Tsuna, ears drooped, thoroughly chastised. Alessandro couldn't help but gape at the duo when, pitying the liger, the Decimo patted his head again, smiling. Bester looked as if Tsuna had offered him the whole goddamn world, and Alessandro had to wonder what the 'world' was in the beast's dictionary. The Decimo looked at him.

"You were saying?"

Alessandro dropped his voice to a low whisper, shrinking back; anything to look as less intimidating as possible. It worked—Bester's gaze on him wasn't as scorching as it had been previously.

"Resu-san asked me to bring you your breakfast."

Tsuna blinked, "He did? Woah, that's the kindest thing he has ever done for me."

Alessandro was about to correct him and say that Resu was a 'she' rather than a 'he', but Tsuna interrupted.

"Thank you. Where's it, then?"

Alessandro paused. Looked at his hands. Then at the floor, where the food looked pathetic enough to pass of as something inedible.

"Eh…"

Tsuna sighed in resignation, Bester growled, and Alessandro ran out of the room, screaming.

* * *

><p>"Squalo-san? Is that what I think it is?"<p>

Squalo looked back at the giant squid he and Alo—who had done it to impress Tsuna, Squalo had concluded with distaste—had captured.

"YEAH. A GIANT SQUID. PROBLEM?"

"Uh, no, not really."

"Woah, Squalo, that's amazing!" Yamamoto exclaimed.

Tsuna glanced at him. Of course it was amazing. Because, really, what was _not _amazing about a giant squid who was half the size of the entire ship, and was waving its arms about like a lunatic, nearly murdering Tsuna and his classmates in the process?

Nothing, apparently.

Squalo casually walked up to the squid's head and stabbed it repeatedly. The squid thwarted about pathetically, blue blood spurting everywhere, while Tsuna watched with thin veiled horror. His Guardians were the only ones to look unperturbed, which was more than a bit disturbing.

Tsuna felt like throwing up. Some people _were _throwing up and that was oddly comforting.

Squalo grabbed the now-dead-but-still-bleeding animal by a tentacle, dragging it towards what Tsuna supposed was the kitchen.

"WELL, CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY. WE WILL BE HAVING SQUID TONIGHT!"

And then he went on his merry way.

Yamamoto laughed.

Tsuna skipped dinner.

* * *

><p>Tsuna woke up with Bester on his bed the next day. And the next. And the next. And then Alo came in the mix, and Tsuna wasn't sure what to feel about that.<p>

"Okay, Natsu, I am _sorry."_

"Rawr."

"Natsu."

"_Raawrr."_

"I'm sorry that I have not been talking to you for so long, but Bester—"

"RAWR!"

"I can't just _leave _him!"

"Rawr. _Rawr."_

"_But—"_

"Raaaawwrrr."

"It's not _my _fault that Alo comes too—"

"Raaaaaawwwwwrrrrr!"

"I know, I _know, _but won't that be mean—"

"Raawrrrrr!"

"You can't make me choose between you and them—!"

"Rawrrrrr."

"Okay, _fine, _I'll try."

_Lions, _Tsuna thought despondently, _are very territorial._

* * *

><p>"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO NOW?!"<p>

"What—I didn't even do any—" Tsuna shrieked, dodging a burst of Wrath Flames.

"BESTER!" Xanxus growled, "HE'S BEEN FUCKING DEPPRESSED, AND IT'S PISSING ME OFF!"

"But I didn't _do _anything!"

"DON'T YOU DARE LIE, TRASH!"

Xanxus' kick to his stomach was harsh, and the injury from the previous day was doing little to help. He had almost forgotten about that, actually. He made a mental note to tell Chrome to stop the illusion on him—it would not do well for her if she used too much of Mist Flames and accidentally got rid of her illusionary organs. Tsuna parried a kick with his hand, wincing when the sore region felt as if it would crack into two.

"HE'S BEEN LIKE THAT SINCE YESTERDAY, AFTER HE CAME BACK FROM MEETING _YOU!"_

"Um, I _might've _told him that we can't meet anymore."

Xanxus paused. Looked at him.

"Un-fucking-believable. Are you telling me that he is depressed because _you _told him that you can't meet him anymore, trash?"

"Um… yes…?"

Xanxus breathed in, eyebrow twitching violently. Not a good sign. At all.

"Okay…" he said, looking ready to castrate Tsuna, "you're meeting him. Making up. _Now."_

"But—"

"I don't _care _what you fucking say. Bester's been _lamenting _and that's creepy as fuck." Xanxus admitting that he found something creepy was, like, _woah, _but Tsuna stopped himself from mentioning that. Xanxus repeated, "You are meeting him."

"But, Natsu—"

"_Now!"_

Tsuna had no choice.

He _also _had to make up with Alo, rekindle his friendship with the fish and all that, when Squalo came barging into his room, threatening to stab the living daylights out of him if he did nothing to stop Alo from becoming a depressed maniac. Tsuna recalled the squid, remembered the blue blood oozing out, followed by the pathetic writhing, and made up his mind in an instant.

* * *

><p>The sea was calm.<p>

And there was a gangster in his room.

_Right._

The gangster had golden hair, was wearing sunglasses _inside_, had a scarf wrapped around his neck,and was smiling at him cordially. Tsuna fidgeted on his bed, staring at him, unable to comprehend the next course of action. He had been resting comfortably because consuming food was still not an option (Xanxus had tried to blow his head off the moment he had stepped into the dining hall), when the golden haired man had pretty much waltzed into his room, offering a stunned Tsuna a cheerful hug.

"Hi."

"Hey!" the gangster greeted, grinning, "how's it going?"

"Um, everything's fine, thank you." The gangster's voice was familiar, but Tsuna couldn't put a ring to it. "What about you?"

"Everything's good for me too!" he replied cheerfully.

"Right."

_Right._

"Um… who—"

A sudden blur, and then the gangster was practically tossed onto the other's side of the room. Gangster's back met the wall near the window, and he wheezed, something green and yellow flipping out of his tweed jacket and getting flung out of the window. Getting down from the bed, horrified, Tsuna, still horrified, gave a terrified glance at Hibari and then the gangster.

"Hibari-san! What are you—"

Hibari glared at him, and Tsuna gulped, turning his attention towards the stranger. Gangster he may be, compared to Hibari he was hardly terrifying, what with how he had just tripped over his own feet and split his lips while trying to get up. Tsuna realized how much of a hypocrite he was.

"_Herbivore,"_ Hibari hissed, "what are you doing here?"

Tsuna would have pointed out that he was in his own room, so, yeah, he was _bound _to be here and not downstairs, eating, because people loved killing him a bit too much, but then realized that Hibari wasn't talking to him at all. The prefect's eyes were fixed on the stranger who, rubbing his bleeding lips with the back of his sleeves, gave an impish grin that had Hibari snarling in a disturbing, I-want-to-kill-you-go-_fucking-die _manner. Tsuna averted his eyes. That was frightening.

"Kyoya!" the gangster greeted cheerfully, unperturbed, as if this was a daily occurrence, "long time no see!"

Hibari's reply was stalking up to Gangster and kicking him on his stomach. Gangster _laughed. _Tsuna figured he was crazy.

"Yeah, I missed you too!"

Hibari's tonfa met the man's jaw next. Gangster was still laughing.

_Something is seriously __**wrong **__with the people I meet._

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Each word was succeeded by three, quick, hits.

"Hey, can't I come to see my younger brother once in a while?"

The stranger's identity clicked into place.

"Dino-san!" Tsuna greeted, rushing up to the man, and somehow wrestling him away from Hibari's grasp, "Are you alright?"

Dino grinned again, worrying Tsuna about the state of his brain.

"I'm fine! Never better!"

"See, herbivore? He's fine. Let me bite him to death."

"What-? No, Hibari-san—"

"Don't think you can order me around, herbivore. I'll bite you to death."

Tsuna did not miss the sudden, frankly expected, turn this conversation had taken. Hibari was doing that on purpose, Tsuna knew, just to squeeze out a fight from him, something he would never consider acquiescing to. Before Hibari could continue with his task of biting Tsuna to death, the ship lurched forward. Grabbing onto the side of his bed, Tsuna glanced around in worry when the ship rocked again. Tsuna yelped when the ship moved _up, into the freaking __**air, **_before falling down again, splashing on the sea water below.

Tsuna looked at Dino, who had extracted himself from Tsuna and was busy looking outside the ship from the window.

If Tsuna hadn't been under Reborn's tutelage, he would have missed Dino's soft curse:

"Oh shit."

The ship moved again, and something _growled. _It was a familiar growl.

Tsuna recalled the yellow-green thing which had exited through the window. He glanced at Dino's pale face and wanted to cry.

The perpetrator of the growl had been responsible for his near-death multiple times, after all.

"Dino-san," Tsuna called out wearily, "where is Romario-san?"

The blonde looked over at him, his face pale, "Um, he's not with me. He'll be coming in the evening to pick me up. Why?"

Tsuna sighed, tired of how the odds were, _again_, against him. He had been sighing a lot nowadays, he thought morosely, noticing the way Hibari was looking at him. Obviously the prefect knew what he was thinking.

"Dino-san," he said carefully, "I need you to stay here while I take care of Enzio."

"What—? Tsuna—"

"Please. Reborn obviously knows of this—you _know _how he is— and he'll kill me if he gets to know that you helped me in rescuing every unfortunate soul in this ship."

That wasn't the entire reason, obviously, but Dino did not need to know that. Dino without Romario or his Famiglia was a tragedy waiting to happen. Besides, Tsuna loved Dino like a brother and he did not want to see him dead. Reborn would _kill _him if that were to happen, not before somehow summoning Dino's soul and strangling the Italian to ghost-death. Like mentioned, Tsuna loved Dino, and he'd rather spare the Italian of the torture.

Dino, convinced by the explanation, nodded, though he hardly looked pleased.

He glanced at Hibari, who had this little maniacal gleam in his eyes—the sort of gleam he got whenever a fight was about to take place. Tsuna considered telling Hibari to stay back, too, but since he did not want a tonfa being whammed into his face, he held back the urge. Besides, Hibari wouldn't listen to him _anyway, _so what was the point?

"I need your sunglasses and your scarf, Dino-san. And hair gel. Lots and lots of it."

Once he had disguised himself, he left his room dejectedly.

_I am going to be killed, aren't I? By a giant turtle. A goddamn giant turtle.  
><em>

* * *

><p>Alessandro saw the giant turtle.<p>

_Oh my god, that's a giant turtle._

And fainted.

* * *

><p>Arashi had been sitting on one of the deck chairs when he saw the giant-turtle-monster-thing emerging insidiously from the murky waters below. He paused, wide-eyed, and screamed. Narrowly missing a large turtle-mouth from ripping his head off his shoulders, still screaming, he noticed how his classmates, previously enjoying the light sun, had scattered about, shrieking at the top of their voices. Crunching noises were heard, but Arashi did not bother turning around to see why.<p>

"OH MY GOD—! WHAT IS THAT?!"

"WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"

"SHIT—WHY IS IT COMING TOWARDS US?!"

"IT'S EATING THE SHIP! _THE SHIP!"_

_That probably explained the crunching noise_, Arashi thought, blood running cold,_ I'm going to die Titanic style. WHY?!_

Arashi had been searching for a way to get _into _the ship, but then something whizzed past him. The speed was _inhuman_, and Arashi had a feeling that if whatever the fast thing was, had, by mistake, brushed past his arm, it would have taken his arm with it. Arashi turned around, eyes widening.

There was a _human. _A boy, about his age, short, but, _what the hell, _he was _flying._

_And his forehead is on fire. How the hell is that possible?_

The flying male was interesting enough to stop everybody from screaming for their bloody lives. They stood, gaping. The boy was hovering over the giant turtle, seemingly _talking _to it (seriously, who did that?), trying to coax it away.

_Coax _it away. Nobody could _coax _things _away. _That was called being politely rude. It needed skills. And sarcasm.

More importantly, he doubted the boy could speak turtle.

Looking at him dazedly, Arashi squinted, trying to get a better view. The boy was, as mentioned earlier, clearly flying, brown hair styled back. Sunglasses perched on his nose, a scarf covering his mouth, if the boy was trying to be unobtrusive, he was clearly failing miserably because he was _fucking flying _(yes, his brain was still very adamantly fixed on that)_. _The giant turtle swept an arm at the flying human, something which said flying human dodged with ease. The arm would have landed on the ship and split it into two, but then Hibari—fucking—_Kyoya _came out of nowhere, and jumped, like, twenty feet into the air, a tonfa parrying the blow, which was completely normal, definitely.

The turtle's arm flew back, and Hibari landed back onto the deck. He looked ready to go at it again, but then looked up, frowning.

"Che, the omnivore. Taking away _my _prey again."

Flying Human _tackled _the monstrosity back into the sea. The turtle groaned pitifully, but Flying Human wasn't done yet, apparently, because, showing strength which couldn't possibly belong to a human, he carried the creature _up_, into the sky.

Cameras were clicked with great gusto and phones were taken out hastily.

Flying Human flew up, and continued doing so till he disappeared into the clouds.

"Oh my _God,_" Arashi breathed, stunned, "I think I saw an _alien."_

The alien in question was busy cradling a shrunken Enzio in his palms, making unexpected cooing sounds when it snapped, tilted its head to its left and decided that it quite liked Tsuna. Shifting closer to the brunette, Enzio rubbed its head against his cheek affectionately.

"Aw, will you look at that!" Dinzo exclaimed, grinning, "Enzio likes you!"

Tsuna looked at Dino, recalled Bester and Alo, and then burst out laughing.

Dino left via a helicopter sometime in the evening, after having taken back the sun glasses and the scarf from Tsuna.

"It's my disguise," Dino had explained, "since I am still teaching in Namimori Middle, it wouldn't be good if the children find out who I am."

And then:

"_And your fight was awesome, Tsuna! You are meant to be a boss!"_

The above may have been spoken in Italian, but it still was the most horrifying thing Tsuna had ever heard, so he burst out crying.

* * *

><p>The last two days, until they <em>finally <em>reached Italy, had been comparatively subdued. Giant turtles and the ship mystically repairing itself overnight still had most of the unfortunate souls (except for a few, which did not involve Tsuna) bewildered and mildly traumatized, but that was hardly of importance.

Everybody was sea sick, even Squalo, which was a big surprise, all things considered. Unfortunately, being sea sick, Tsuna, deciding to take up to being an anorexic, temporarily, refused to eat, lest he threw up and feel even more like shit. Best decision he had ever made.

Reborn was not sea sick because Reborn was Reborn, and Tsuna was pretty sure that he was an alien.

* * *

><p><strong>They'll be <strong>_**finally **_**moving towards the mansion!**

**I feed and survive on reviews.**


	7. Chapter 7

**LOVE. YOU. GUYS. I SERIOUSLY DO! Thank you so much for your reviews!**

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**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>It was a contradicting and ironical thing, seeing that he had been sea sick for the past two days.<p>

But he couldn't help it.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, Neo Vongola Primo, someone who had survived a whole _year _with Reborn (and lived to tell the tale), was terrified of land. He was, very tentatively, walking down the stairway set down from the ship, palms clammy. It was stupid, he knew, to be this scared of something that would inevitably come. The land, that is. The land was going to come invariably, so he _should _just step on it and _get over with it._ For someone who had gone through worse, this was enormously embarrassing.

"Get _moving_, Dame-Tsuna!" he heard someone call from behind. Tsuna did not turn to see who. If he did, he _might_ justtrip and fall—fall on land. Fall on the land which belonged to _Italy._

That he could deal without.

"_Move!"_

"Shut up!" He heard Gokudera growl from the dock, "Don't you dare order Tenth around!"

Suddenly, Gokudera was near him, in _front_ of him, looking clearly worried as Tsuna's eyes widened. Tsuna was sure he had been moving slower than a sleeping, semi-dead sloth. How the hell had he reached the bottom of the stairs so fast? Was he on an escalator? No, he didn't think so. An illusion? He toed the dock cautiously. No. He frowned. Then how did he—

Something kicked him on the head (it was easy to guess who, what with the feet being distinctly tiny), and Tsuna, with a yelp, was sent tumbling forward. Gokudera, with a cry of "Tenth!" tried to catch him, but Tsuna landed a good two meters away from the bomber.

Someone exclaimed, "_Finally!" _but Tsuna did not get up and turn to see who.

His palms and elbows were scraped and bleeding a bit. He prodded his right elbow and hissed.

_Land._

He was terrified of it.

* * *

><p>There was a limousine. Of course there was a limousine.<p>

Because, really, why _wouldn't _there be one?

Tsuna had travelled in a limousine before, but he never could find himself liking it. There was no _point_, he felt, to have a car that big in size with little number of seats. And, seriously, what was _up _with the interior? Golden and pink and _bright_, with a goddamn _television _attached to it. Who _did _that? And a _refrigerator? _ What was wrong with people?

He shouldn't be gaping at the five limousines that had come to pick them up, but he was. He was because he hadn't _wanted _limousines to pick them up. What was wrong with nice, good, old _normal _cars, huh?

His classmates looked stunned, too, but Tsuna could see that they were eager to get in one. Tsuna did not blame them.

"Wow…" someone breathed from beside him.

Tsuna turned to see that it was someone from 3-B—meaning, Tsuna did not know him, and that neither Gokudera nor Yamamoto were anywhere near him.

He glanced at the cars lined up in front of them, and noticed there was a sixth. Bigger and larger than the rest, white in color, and evidently meant for the future Decimo (who still had no desire to take up that title) and his family.

Tsuna should have been honored. Funny how he could not find himself to be just that. It didn't help that his Guardians and Kyoko were all walking towards the car as if they owned it. Tsuna tried merging with the floor; anything to not let their attention turn towards him and drag him to the abnormal car.

Yamamoto paused, eyes searching, and as Tsuna tried to look unobtrusive, Yamamoto caught his eyes.

His technique had not worked. Damn.

"There you are!" he exclaimed, running up to Tsuna, grabbing his arm and dragging him away from the self-made protective cocoon of his classmates, "You disappeared all of a sudden."

_And I want to right now, _Tsuna thought morosely.

The first one to enter was obviously Hibari, who probably wanted to stay as far away from 'herbivores' and glare at everybody from a far off corner. Yamamoto and Tsuna finally caught up to Gokudera.

Gokudera gave a single glance at Yamamoto's hand which was still clutching onto Tsuna's arm, and ordered, "Do not manhandle the Tenth like that!"

"Maa, maa, Gokudera! Tsuna doesn't mind." Yamamoto said, looking at Tsuna, placing his other hand on Tsuna's other arm, making Gokudera hiss. He asked, grinning, "Do you?"

Tsuna had to duck his head to prevent Gokudera from seeing a grin, which matched Yamamoto's, on his face. Yamamoto's eyes twinkled with mirth at his reaction—it was obvious to Tsuna that Yamamoto was doing it on purpose. It was probably a bit cruel of Tsuna and Yamamoto, both, to instigate Gokudera like that, but it was still funny.

"C'mon, Tsuna!" Yamamoto urged, "Let's get in!"

Tsuna gave a brief glance at his classmates, glad to see that no one seemed to find the fact that he was riding on a different looking limousine than them suspicious. Tsuna could not blame them, he supposed— Tsuna doubted that he was anywhere near as interesting as a car. Yamamoto's hand was still on his arm, and Gokudera was still glaring savagely at the point of contact, but eventually Yamamoto released him with a laugh as he climbed into the car. Gokudera insisted that Tsuna to go next, so he did, and Gokudera followed.

Ryohei was looking positively giddy, talking to Chrome and Kyoko animatedly. It was good to see them so excited, Tsuna mused, even though all he (_still) _wanted was to get into a temporary coma. Hibari, sitting in a far off corner by the window, was glaring at one Rokudo Mukuro, who had been trying to catch the prefect's attention by taunting him about something Tsuna had no intention of ever knowing about.

The car eventually started, and Tsuna was dragged into a conversation by Gokudera, mentally hoping to never reach the Vongola Mansion.

* * *

><p>They reached the Vongola Mansion since Fate had a thing against Tsuna's sanity.<p>

Tsuna wanted to curl into a ball and be shipped back to Japan.

He wasn't surprised to see everybody—except for the people who had been here previously—staring at the Mansion with barely concealed awe.

"It's so beautiful!" somebody exclaimed, and there were murmurs of agreement.

Tsuna agreed, too. The Mansion _was _beautiful. With primly cut gardens, matted with lush and green grass, dotted and designed with flowers, planted and trimmed with precision, the Vongola Mansion looked nothing _but _beautiful. Trees were planted in rows on either side of the grounds, starting from the larger than necessary gates, while the middle of the Vongola grounds, in a circular, smoothly cemented region, was occupied by a graceful fountain.

The Mansion was larger than needed, obviously, since people were rich bastards and kind of loved showing how annoyingly rich they were.

Sarcasm aside, the Mansion was still beautiful.

They were led to the mansion by one of the servants (Tsuna had looked pointedly away when she—Elizabeth, he remembered her name to be—had smiled fondly at him). For whatever reasons, Tsuna was shoved to the front of the group, which was a bit disquieting, but he knew that protesting would be fruitless. He didn't want to come off as too suspicious. They entered the foyer, and there were instant choruses of:

"Welcome back, Decimo!"

Why they had spoken in Japanese when they were something-lingual was still a mystery to Tsuna.

"Who's Decimo?" he heard someone ask.

_Not me. Not me, nope, never __**ever**__._

Tsuna used his luggage and Gokudera as a shield, all the while hoping for the floor to swallow him whole and spit him out somewhere back in Namimori. The Vongola's servants giving him pointed looks of recognition and, them smiling behind their hands wasn't helping matters, either. More importantly, why were their bows deepening whenever _he, _specifically, walked by? He wanted to tell, to _beg, _them to stop that.

Like, seriously.

_Stop that!_ he mentally screamed.

He increased his pace immediately, and Tsuna could practically _feel _Reborn's amusement radiating out from his tiny form at his side. It was his fault, anyway. The sadist.

Nezu-sensei was standing in front of Tsuna, leading the group. Obviously, since Nezu-sensei had no idea where to go, he was being led by one of the few ten thousand butlers the Vongola was equipped with. They were led to a room which looked more like a house than a room, and while normally Tsuna would have appreciated the aesthetic beauty of it, he chose to slump onto one of the fifty or so couches lined up. His classmates sat down, too, awkward.

Again, Tsuna did not blame them.

Everything in the room smelt of richness and money and silver and possible bars of gold. It was bound to make _anyone _feel awkward. Even though they were curious, they knew that walking about and prodding things was out of the question.

Gokudera sat to his right and Yamamoto to his left, while Hibari's couch was shifted to a far off corner in the room—nothing out of the ordinary.

A few minutes later, one of the butlers, impeccably dressed, going by the name of Sebastian, evidently an Italian, greeted them.

"Welcome to the Vongola Mansion," he said, smiling lightly. He turned to Tsuna and his group of friends, eyes becoming fond, "And welcome back, Decimo and his Guardians."

Yamamoto waved back enthusiastically, Gokudera nodded, Chrome and Kyoko smiled, Ryohei beamed, Hibari did not bother looking, Mukuro did… something, while Tsuna used Gokudera as a very sturdy and very much needed shield.

There was a short pause—Tsuna had a feeling that Sebastian was frowning, worried, just a little.

"I am Sebastian—"

The sound of pitter patter of feet followed the announcement, and there was a slight scuffling noise at the wooden double doors. The doors flew open seconds later, and three bodies barreled into the room, enthusiastic, and Tsuna suddenly found himself and the couch tipping backwards as small arms encircled his waist. There was a loud 'thud!' of the couch's backrest hitting the carpeted floor below, before three distinct voices broke through.

"Tsuna-nii!"

"Tsuna!"

"Tsuna-san!"

Slowly, a little dizzy—he had not eaten anything for the past few days, after all—he managed to sit up straight. Fuuta had his arms around his waist, while Lambo and I-Pin had theirs around his right and left legs, respectively. Tsuna was about to reciprocate their hugs with equal enthusiasm, but then paused when he noticed how his classmates were looking at him.

Suspicion. Bewilderment.

_WHY ME?!_

He briefly considered getting up, ignoring the three children clinging to him. But then they _looked _at him like that, their expressions crestfallen, as if him not hugging them back immediately had completely shattered their worlds and… well, Tsuna had always loved kids (especially these three—he _adored _them), and he had always loathed seeing them sad. So he did the only thing he could do without a moment's hesitation—he hugged them back enthusiastically, suspicion directed towards him be damned.

Fuuta hummed in satisfaction, before finally letting him go, grinning, "We missed you, Tsuna-nii."

"I missed you too," Tsuna said, smiling fondly. It had been nearly a week since he had seen his siblings, after all.

"Haru wants a hug from Tsuna-san, too!"

Tsuna was sent tipping back, _again_, as another body tackled him to the ground.

"Haru missed Tsuna-san!" she declared happily, rubbing her cheek against Tsuna's chest, much to the Gokudera's chagrin.

"Christ, woman! Get the hell off the Tenth!" Gokudera tried pulling Haru away from Tsuna, but she clung to him like glue.

"Nooooo! Do not come between mine and Tsuna-san's love!"

At this point, Gokudera had somehow managed to keep Haru away from Tsuna, while she flailed her arm about as Tsuna got up, blushing a bit. He couldn't help but chuckle at Haru's antics, watching with amusement when Fuuta laughed happily.

"Tsuuunnaaa-saaaannn!"

"Goddammit, _stop it!_"

And then Tsuna found himself looking at one Arashi, and his chuckles came to an abrupt halt.

"Okay." The other boy declared savagely, "_Explain. _How the hell do they know you? Them knowing Gokudera makes sense, but how the hell do they know _you?"_

Tsuna had no idea when Gokudera had managed to release Haru from physically smothering Tsuna as the silver haired male came in between them, but Tsuna had to admit that he was glad. This was, after all, the question he _hadn't _wanted to be asked.

"That," Gokudera growled. Uh-oh, not good. "is none of your fucking _business. _Know your goddamn place!"

"Shut up," Arashi snapped, and Tsuna's mind worked quickly.

Clearly, for whatever reasons, Arashi was under the impression that the three knowing Gokudera was not out of the ordinary, which meant that he could use this to his own advantage. He came bodily in between Gokudera and Arashi, lest the latter found himself waking up in Heaven or the hospital, though Tsuna had a feeling that the former was more likely.

"I am Gokudera-kun's friend, aren't I? I met them through him."

It was a simple lie, and he did not need to look to his right to see Reborn nodding. Tsuna rolled his eyes. Reborn was perhaps the only adult who would _encourage_ children to lie.

Arashi's lips pursed, the suspicion, like his other classmates, still not particularly removed. Tsuna panicked a bit, but knew he could not do anything about it now.

* * *

><p>By the time they were appointed to their rooms and given the keys, night was already rolling in. Tsuna was glad about that. He was <em>starving.<em>

He entered the dining hall, noticing that almost everyone else was present there.

Arashi observed as Dame-Tsuna was led to his seat, at the head of the table—_again. _His suspicion grew. It burgeoned. Something was very wrong about everything, and he was determined to find out what. Arashi had always been the curious sort and this—this _thing _regarding Dame-Tsuna smelt, simply put, fishy. And the kids. Arashi did not believe a word of Tsuna's explanation—he _knew _that that wasn't the whole truth. Tsuna _was _hiding something.

He saw Dame-Tsuna smiling at the servant. Said servant smiled back, blushing.

Arashi paused.

_What the fuck?_

He squinted, observing the servant. And surely, her ears were bright _red._

Okay, that was simply _wrong. _Tsuna was pretty disgusting, his smiles even more so, so why the hell was she _blushing? _And not to mention that she was seriously _hot, _and was, like, in her late twenties. The blushing because of _Dame-Tsuna _indicated that she had very bad tastes; the blushing despite Tsuna being _fourteen _meant that she was a pedophile.

Arashi grimaced.

Uh-huh. Right.

He failed to notice how the other servants _and _butlers who were bringing Tsuna food and filling his glass with water were blushing, too, as they realized, again, why and how they had instantly taken a liking to the Decimo during his first visit.

Although, frankly, taking up to becoming a pedophile did not seem that bad of an idea all of a sudden.

* * *

><p>Tsuna was lying on his bed, satisfied beyond words.<p>

He had eaten.

He had _eaten, _and goddamnit, this was probably the best thing that had happened to him over the past few days. He grinned at the ceiling happily. He had retired to his room immediately after dinner, hell bent on getting rest, slumping onto the four poster bed after having taken a bath.

So, he willed himself to go to sleep.

It wasn't working.

He tried counting sheep in his head, all for naught. Glancing at the clock, he came to the knowledge that he had been doing that very boring task for the past forty seven minutes.

_Sleep, _he thought to himself, furious, _**sleep.**_

Wrapping the blankets around himself so that he resembled a rather big cocoon than a human, he shut his eyes, ordering his body to relax. God knows, he _needed _sleep. Sure, today had been comparatively less hectic than usual, but he had been worried and tensed the whole day, paranoid about everything that even _breathed. _He had, very meticulously, avoided eye contact with the servants and butlers when anyone other than his friends were with him. He wondered how he would survive the next few days.

_Survive, _he thought, _maybe I won't. Doesn't seem like a bad idea, actually._

_Don't let your mind wonder, Sawada! Sleep._

His ears picked up noises at the other side of the door. He got up immediately—at this moment, he would gladly welcome any distraction, even if said distraction turned out to be an assassin. Cautiously walking towards the door, he opened it, meeting with three children.

"Fuuta?"

Fuuta looked at him, and so did Lambo and I-Pin. They were gazing at him expectantly, and Tsuna did not need them to speak to know what they wanted next. He opened the door wider, so that the three could enter his room. He frowned, worried, once they had themselves perched on his bed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Lambo-sama's not feeling sleepy!" Lambo declared.

Fuuta gave him a sheepish look, "Um, can we sleep here?"

Tsuna smiled at them. The discomfort, he understood. The three always slept with his mother, so, of course, they would feel lonely. Moreover, he guessed that their rooms were too spacious for their liking.

"Sure," he replied, walking up to the bed and lying on it. Fuuta, I-Pin and Lambo immediately scooted close to him, and Tsuna couldn't contain a grin. It was good to know that he was needed by them, since he knew that _he _needed them more than they needed him.

Shutting his eyes, he fell asleep in minutes.

* * *

><p>At five in the morning, he woke up to a crackle.<p>

"**Huh. This thing's working, right?"**

_The voice is familiar, _Tsuna thought groggily, figuring that the voice was coming through the speakers in his room. Tsuna blinked, the vestiges of sleep not quite having left him. From beside him, the children shifted a bit, but they did not wake up.

"**Vongola? You there?"**

"I am," Tsuna replied immediately, a bit horrified to have responded to the term 'Vongola', though he was pretty sure that the voice behind the speaker hadn't heard him.

Tsuna felt like an idiot, speaking to a speaker.

"**So, uh, Shoichi and I were working on a Silver Mosca, but then something went wrong, so it's unstable and it's heading towards the Mansion. Uh, it is **_**meant **_**to destroy things, so it will do just that. Just saying."**

Tsuna finally recognized the owner of the voice.

_Spanner!_

_And what do you mean by a Silver Mosca heading towards the Mansion!_

As if to answer his unspoken question, something was merrily blasted to pathetic smithereens in the north-east wing of the mansion, causing slight tremors in his room. Tsuna groaned.

His chances of survival had diminished already.

* * *

><p><strong>Um. This was merely the introductory part—the main thing will start from the next chapter, I swear! Sorry for making the pace so slow!<strong>

**Please tell me your thoughts in a review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Love to everybody who has reviewed, favorited and followed! THANKYOU SO MUCH!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>After Tsuna made sure that climbing out of the bed and the tremors had done nothing to wake up the children, he ran out of the room, stumbling out into the corridors, shutting the door softly behind him.<p>

Another explosion broke through the silence, and without a moment's hesitation, he ran towards the direction of it, making sure that his Dying Will Pills and gloves were in his pocket. Briefly wondering where Gokudera, Yamamoto, Chrome, Mukuro, Kyoko, Haru, Ryohei and Hibari were, he prayed that they (_especially _Gokudera and Hibari) wouldn't strangle Spanner later.

Judging by how things never really went according to _his _plan, he knew that offering a pray to the Almighty was useless.

The paintings hanging from the walls and the antiques and heirlooms set on rounded stools passed by in a colorful blur—he did not have the time to appreciate their beauty. It was during times like these that he realized how much he had changed. He was pretty sure that a year ago, he would have done practically _anything _to stay out of trouble and death warranting situations; but, here he was, being an idiot and pretty much hurtling himself towards his own death.

He blamed Reborn for rubbing off on him.

The speakers crackled again.

"**Did I mention that there are more than one Silver Moscas?"**

Tsuna stumbled, eyes widening.

"**Yeah, don't think I did. There are nine of them."**

"_Oh my God! _And you are mentioning that _now?!" _Tsuna asked no one, glaring at the ceiling.

"**Oh, **_**yeah, **_**I completely forgot…"**

There were further crackles, and then a voice spoke, _inside his head._

Tsuna tripped, falling face first in the ground, as the voice kept on speaking. He had forgotten about that. Two days after the whole fiasco with Bermuda, Spanner and Shoichi had together worked to create a speaker-hearing device, which they had planted into his ear. Brain. Somewhere. They were like the X-Headphones, just tiny and creepy; creepy because it was fucking _weird _to have a voice speaking to you in your head.

"It's loud!" Tsuna protested, "Spanner, I'm going to become deaf!"

There was a pause, followed by static as Tsuna slowly got up and continued running.

"Vongola?" Spanner spoke, "Is this better?"

"Yes. Thank you. What did you say about eight Moscas?"

"I know where all of them are, so I've sent one Guardian to them, except for Sasagawa-kun. He was not in his room. And Reborn-san's taking care of the other ones. I've pinpointed your location. There's one after two turns to the left, and one to the right."

Tsuna nodded, despite knowing that the blonde could not see him, "You do realize that Gokudera-kun's going to kill you, right?"

"…"

Tsuna had a feeling that the other had realized Gokudera's murderous streak _just now, _which explained the silence of information dawning and a boy suddenly thinking _'I'm too young to die'_.

"…How's Shouichi?" Tsuna asked worriedly.

"He's… on the floor, rolling because his stomach's paining. I think he's scared about Gokudera."

"Tell him not to be. I'll stop Gokudera-kun."

Spanner heaved a satisfied sigh. Tsuna was sure that the mechanic had been holding his breath, tensed for the inevitable.

"Thank you, Vongola. I owe you one."

Tsuna hummed, and allowed the connection to break.

Another explosion, this one nearer to him, and stronger vibrations followed. Tsuna hurled himself into the room from where screams of his classmates ensued. He blinked at the site. The room was in a sad state of disarray. Bullet marks scattered along the wall, tables and drawers overturned, the bed blown to pitiable sizes. By some miracle, the heirlooms were left untouched. One wall of the room had a huge, gaping hole to it; this was, no doubt, the place from where the Silver Mosca had entered in all its life-taking, unwanted glory.

Speaking of which, The Silver Mosca looked exactly like the Green Mosca he remembered during the Representative Battles, except for the fact that it was, well, _silver. _And it had his classmates at machine-gun point.

_Oh, yay, _Tsuna cheered facetiously.

The five students who were being forced to face the murdering robot were shaking, terrified. Their breaths were coming out in short gasps, no doubt having realized that the Mosca could kill them easily. Tsuna realized that, too, so he took a nearby vase and hurled it at the silver robot. The few-million-dollar worth heirloom landed a good two feet away from its intended target, shattering. Tsuna winced at the noise, but didn't let it deter him. It deterred the Mosca from keeping the students at gun-point, though, much to Tsuna's surprise, turning towards the place where the noise had come from.

The students did not move an inch, paralyzed with fear.

"MOVE!" Tsuna yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

The uncharacteristic yelling from the softest teenager in the whole of Namimori un-paralyzed them. They scrambled away from the gathered spot as soon as the machine opened fire at the recent source of noise—Tsuna. He ducked and rolled, reflex kicking in. A bullet almost nipped his ear, and Tsuna noticed, with no little amount of worry, that none of the students had had the opportunity to escape from the room. Scrambling up and diving behind the half-broken couch, Tsuna fell on a distinct body of a human.

"Dame-Tsuna!"

Tsuna blinked at Takahira.

"Hello." Tsuna greeted quietly.

"What are you doing here?!" Takahira hissed.

"Um, hiding…?"

"Well, find a different place! I don't want you to fuck anything up and have that—that _thing _come running after me!" This was ordered by a glaring Arashi.

"But—!"

"Will you three shut _up?!_" a girl hissed angrily, "Don't make any sound!"

"Staying _silent _will not _help _us in anyway, Hinata!" Arashi protested wildly, his voice a low whisper, "Dame-Tsuna being here with us is the same as _screaming_, goddammit!"

"He won't do anything; stop speaking!" she whispered furiously.

"Tell him to hide somewhere else! You _know _how he is! He'll trip over air and scream and then then we are done for!"

Hinata paused, "Oh, I hadn't… thought of that. Shit."

Tsuna was used to Reborn insulting him by pretending they were not in the same room. It was a coincidence how his classmates were also very good at doing that. It didn't matter, though—he had a more important task at hand. He half-stood up, poking his head from behind the back rest of the couch. The Silver Mosca was still there, like a prowling predator, searching.

Tsuna supposed that the reason why the Mosca had not come after him yet, despite definitely having seen Tsuna diving behind the couch, was because of some malfunctioned part Tsuna was glad the machine was currently suffering from.

His arm was yanked down. A yelp would have escaped him if it weren't for Arashi slapping a rough hand over his mouth.

"Mpffff!"

"Don't look up, are you crazy?!" Hinata hissed, looking peeved and nervous as she glanced at the ceiling, "Look, you need to get out of here before you—"

"Tsuna-san…?"

Tsuna stiffened. He knew that voice.

_I-Pin._

Hinata was still talking to him, but Tsuna did not bother looking. Dread pooling in his stomach, he jerked up, eyes wide as he looked up from the couch. Surely enough, I-Pin _was _there, and her tentative voice calling out for him had garnered the Mosca's attention.

"Oh my God, _I-Pin!_"

His arm was pulled down again, and the three were looking at him, annoyed.

"What the fuck is _wrong _with you?!" Arashi hissed out, "Are you _trying _to get us killed?!"

"I-Pin…" Tsuna breathed out, "Oh my God, I-Pin's there!"

"Who?" Takahira questioned, eyebrows wrinkled.

"I need to save her." Tsuna ignored his question, standing up, heart thudding wildly in his chest.

Arashi and Takahira tried pulling him down again, speaking rapidly to him, ordering him to _stay the fuck down or you're going to get all of us killed!_, but Tsuna did not hear any of that. A mastered assassin I-Pin may be, she was still a _kid, _and even he doubted that I-Pin could take care of a Silver Mosca. He needed to save her. He _had _to save her.

"What the fuck is _wrong _with you?!" Arashi's voice rose, grabbing his wrist, gripping it firmly, "I don't care if she's there—_I _don't want to die! Besides, what the hell can _you _do?! You're useless, how the fuck will you save her?!"

"Sorry to break it to you, but I don't want to die here with you!" Hinata cried, furious.

Tsuna said nothing. He could see the Mosca raising its arm, aiming it towards I-Pin—

Tsuna glanced briefly at the hand on his wrist, then at Arashi, Takahira and Hinata, all of whom were probably badmouthing him or something—he didn't care.

Arashi froze at the gaze the brunette pinned him with, voice, like Hinata's and Takahira's, trailing off uncertainly.

"Leave me." The boy ordered, his voice low, and, God knows why, Arashi did.

Arashi could have _sworn _that the other's eyes had turned orange. He blamed the sunlight. But then, suddenly Tsuna _disappeared, _and immediately a short thump followed. The three peaked over from the couch. The machine had its head ripped off from its mechanic shoulders, blue electricity sparkling out from the body. The head and body were on the ground, innocuous.

Tsuna was cradling I-Pin in his arms, reassuring himself that his surrogate sibling was well and alive. I-Pin, good at catching things fast, was hugging him back, appreciative of Tsuna.

It was then that he felt five pairs of eyes on him.

He turned, glanced at five pale, incredulous faces. Gaping at him.

Tsuna laughed awkwardly and, for the first time in his life, wished for Reborn's presence so that the hitman could shoot him through the head. But since Reborn was not there and there was no gun in his vicinity, he did the only thing he could do: he ran.

Dropping off I-Pin in his room, he explained to her that he'd be back in an hour and that she should sleep, before speeding out of his room. He learned from Spanner that Yamamoto was currently fighting off three Moscas, so he dashed towards his friend's location. Once he got there, he paused, face failing to not show exasperation. And worry.

Yamamoto was running. And laughing.

"Aw, look at them! They're so cute!" Yamamoto exclaimed, nimbly jumping over a mini rocket which promptly exploded and destroyed a wall, cement flying everywhere.

There were seven students—excluding Yamamoto and Tsuna—who were in the room, all of whom were huddled in a corner, distributing their attention between the Mosca and the baseball fanatic, wondering which one to find more terrifying.

_Yamamoto, _Tsuna thought with a despondent sigh, _definitely Yamamoto._

"Hey, Tsuna!" Yamamoto greeted him with a laugh, unconsciously throwing a chalk towards the killing machine. Said killing machine immediately exploded and Yamamoto waved at him, a pink duster in his hand.

"Be—behind you!" Tsuna warned.

"Hm?" Yamamoto turned, slightly bewildered. Tsuna observed with fascination as Yamamoto swiftly sliced the Mosca, which had snuck up on him, with the pink duster, into three, clean pieces.

Tsuna looked at the last Mosca. It looked terrified, which was funny since it was a _machine._

"So… you don't need my help?"

"Eh? With what?" Yamamoto looked genuinely bewildered. Tsuna had a feeling that Yamaoto had destroyed the two Moscas unconsciously, which should have been terrifying, but Tsuna simply found it hilarious.

* * *

><p>He came across Gokudera next.<p>

Gokudera was attacking his Moscas, peeved, and Tsuna suspectedthat the other was venting. His suspicion turned out to be true when he heard the bomber screamed the following, each word proceeding with a dynamite being shoved into the poor Moscas (yes, the Mosca looked nothing _but _poor currently), pale fingers digging, causing indentions, on the silver surfaces:

"That," _shove_, "stupid," _shove, _"baseball-freak," _shove, _"and," _shove, _"turf-top," _shove, _"taking," _shove, _"away," _shove_, "_my," shove, "cigarettes…!" _Then: "DIE, METALLIC BITCHES!"

The 'metallic bitches' did, indeed, die. Screams of the six students who had had the misfortune to see Gokudera Hayato murdering a non-living thing ensued, and Tsuna made a mental note to never mention to Gokudera that _he _had been the one to request 'baseball-freak' and 'turf-top' to hide the bomber's cigarettes.

* * *

><p>Tsuna landed up in a garden next. If it weren't for the destruction of the koi pond, the complete annihilation of tiger lilies, roses and various species of plants and trees, followed by parts of three different Moscas lying about haphazardly, harmless and pathetic, the garden would have been very pretty. What the Moscas were doing in the garden, Tsuna did not know, but he had an inkling of a feeling the Hibari had chased the machines here, which would have normally been a ridiculous thought, but since Hibari was <em>Hibari, <em>it seemed perfectly possible.

There were ten or so students lying about (still clad in their pajamas, like the other students Tsuna had so far come across—it _was _five thirty in the morning, after all), tonfa marks all over their bodies.

"Ugh…" somebody moaned, "I am so sorry, Hibari… sama… for be-being… a herbivore… just don't bite me to death!"

Again, what the students were doing in the garden, Tsuna did not know and decided that he did not want to know.

* * *

><p>Entering the room his intuition had told him to enter, Tsuna saw students with their backs against the wall, crouched and curled into a protective ball, rocking back and forth, muttering rapidly under their breaths.<p>

"…Mukuro? Chrome?"

The room was dark, cold and scary. One of the students suddenly stood up and screamed, writhing and crying in pain.

"NOOOOOOO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?! STAY AWAY!"

"Oh my God, Chrome, Mukuro!" Tsuna exclaimed, "What are you doing to them?!"

Chrome looked at Tsuna sheepishly, "Um, they commented about Mukuro's hair and he, um…" she gesticulated helplessly at the pale, shaking, terrified students.

Kishihara—one of Tsuna's bullies, who had locked him in the school's bathroom till the next morning in his first year as a Middle School student—screamed, back arching in pain, eyes wide and unseeing.

"Where is he?" Tsuna demanded.

She pointed in Mukuro's direction.

"KUFUFUFUFUFU!" His Mist Guardian cackled madly, the Mosca that had intercepted him convulsing and writhing. How illusions could affect a machine was a bit worrisome, so Tsuna was worried.

"Mukuro!"

Surprisingly, Mukuro stopped cackling and paused, glanced at Tsuna.

"My, my, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Stop with the illusions! They are _students!"_

Mukuro raised an eyebrow, "So? That little detail does not bother me at all."

"They did not _do _anyth—"

"They said I resemble a _pineapple!" _Mukuro informed savagely.

"This is not the time to be sensitive about your hair!"

"I am _not _being sensitive about my—"

"Um, Mukuro-sama…?" Chrome interrupted quietly, "You _are_ being sensitive about your hair…"

"Chrome!" Mukuro exclaimed, hurt.

"Thank you, Chrome," Tsuna said, genuinely grateful, "Now Mukuro, about the illusions…"

Mukuro glared at Tsuna and Chrome (who was smiling) and then snorted, "_Fine."_

The screams from the students came to an abrupt halt, their bodies relaxing. With another glare, Mukuro went back to mentally dissecting the Mosca, and Tsuna let him do that.

* * *

><p>He did not know how he landed up in the parking lot, but he did. The parking lot had <em>tanks <em>in them, which was not as surprising as it should have been. There were other cars, too, ones which Tsuna knew he would never ever be able to buy in his entire life.

None of that mattered, since Ryohei was there.

"HEY SAWADA! THESE ROBOTS ARE EXTREMELY COOL!"

Sasagawa Ryohei was saying the above whilst being attacked by ninety-three mini rockets, all meant to obliterate the other. With quick footings, he somehow managed to dodge ninety two of them, the ninety third of which touched his body and immediately exploded.

"ONII-SAN!"

Ryohei emerged as if he had just not been surrounded by flames, looking, for all intents and purposes, like a male who was probably a bit mentally unstable.

"Sawada?" Ryohei asked, oblivious to the fact that he _could _have (if he were normal, that is) been burned to death, "You called me?"

Tsuna was just about to fall on his knees in relief, but Ryohei jerked him away from the path of an oncoming mini-missile.

"OI, YOU ALRIGHT SAWADA?"

Tsuna winced at the booming voice near his ear, "Um, yeah, I'm fine… are you alright, onii-san?"

Ryohei looked confused, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

Tsuna did not try explaining. The Mosca charged towards them, and Ryohei dragged himself and Tsuna away from its path. They ducked behind a Maybach Exelero.

"You wait here, Sawada, I'll destroy it right away!"

Tsuna stopped him with a question, "What were you doing here in the first place, onii-san?"

"OH, AN EXTREME MORNING JOG!"

"…In the parking lot? At five in the morning?"

"YES! YOU SHOULD JOIN ME SOMETIMES TO SAWADA! BUT FIRST! I NEED TO EXTREMELY DESTROY THE MOSCA!"

Tsuna watched as Ryohei concentrated enough Sun Flames into his fist. The boxer punched the air, Sun Flames pushing forth from his fist, melting the Mosca till it resembled anything but a Mosca. Ryohei returned his attention to Tsuna and grinned. It was a very sheepish grin, and Tsuna's hand twitched. Huh. Odd. Slowly, deliberately, he got up and looked at the destruction. A groan of distress left his throat.

"LET'S GO FOR AN EXTREME JOG, SAWADA!"

* * *

><p>During breakfast, Tsuna had somehow managed to evade Hinata's, Takahira's and Arashi's suspicion filled gaze, laughing it off by claiming that ripping the head off of a murderous, armed, agile and outright dangerous machine was nothing but a fluke(actually, it would have been kind of nice if that were the case). Nobody believed him since he pretty much sucked at lying (much to Reborn's exasperation).<p>

Reborn, on the other hand, currently looked thoroughly amused, much to Tsuna's consternation. The hitman had what looked like a very long strip of paper in his tiny hand. Tsuna's alien of a brain cheerfully told him what it was, and Tsuna urged it to shut the hell up.

"So," Reborn said, now reading out from the paper, "the damages by Gokudera, Yamamoto, Mukuro and Hibari. Plus the mental therapy sessions fifteen of your classmates have to go through, courtesy of Chrome and Mukuro. Not to mention that Hibari destroyed the koi pond and the Vongola's garden. Gokudera blew up half of the medical wing. Ryohei created crater-sized holes—believe me, I am not exaggerating—in twenty one walls and destroyed five tanks. Yamamoto cut down two Lamborghini Venonas. And you," here Reborn paused and gave Tsuna a speculative look, "well, considering what they have done, yours is less. _Really _less."

Tsuna was pretty sure that Reborn was disappointed. Tsuna decided that he did not want to know why.

"Only two million for the vase you broke."

Tsuna nearly fainted. The key word being 'nearly'.

"As their Boss," Reborn continued, ignoring how Tsuna had spontaneously started hyperventilating, "_you _are responsible for the damages they have caused." Reborn waved the paper, and said cheerfully, "In total, thirty hundred million dollars, excluding the cost of the destroyed Silver Moscas."

Tsuna's hyperventilation increased ten folds.

"You won't ever be able to repay back to the Vongola if you don't become the Neo Vongola Primo, Dame-Tsuna."

This time Tsuna _did _faint. Reborn was blackmailing him now.

Great. Just… great.

* * *

><p><strong>MORE SUSPICION!<strong>

**So, what do you think? Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I LOVE YOU GUYS, I REALLY DO! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FOLLOWS, REVIEWS AND FAVORITES! You guys make my day!**

**I may not be able to update for a few weeks (minimum two) since my exams are going on, but I'll certainly try. This chapter is short since it's sort of an introduction. Nothing much happens here, though, but I still hope that you guys will enjoy this!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"The Vongola has arranged a camp for the students of Namimori Middle."<p>

Reborn's declaration was followed by exclamations of pleasant surprise, while Tsuna choked on the morsel of food he was just about to swallow.

"Excuse me?!" he hissed out loud, fixing a glare at Reborn.

Reborn—in Resu's get up—ignored him, continuing, "Tomorrow, after breakfast. Children should rest plenty before that; it _will _be quite hectic."

Tsuna had no doubt about that, whatsoever. Not that it helped matters any.

"I am not going," Tsuna declared.

Reborn gave him a sharp look, "Of course you are, Sawada-san."

_Shit, it's so weird to hear __**Reborn**__ calling __**me**__ 'Sawada-san'._

"No I am not," Tsuna insisted firmly, narrowing his eyes at Reborn. He did not care if he were to get shot later on because of his rudeness; he was _not going. _

"It's compulsory."

"Like hell it is."

"Mind your language, Sawada-san," Reborn admonished, "I am your _teacher_."

_Yes, and I am your student. That never stopped you from trying to kill me, though._

Tsuna would have scoffed or rolled his eyes, but then he noticed how Nezu was glaring at him from behind Reborn (which was funny because Reborn was two feet tall, but somehow managed to look more important than Nezu). It wasn't just Nezu, though. The students were giving him this appalled and stop-being-so-rude-to-the-teacher-! looks that Tsuna could not ignore even if he wanted to. He was being the centre of attention again.

Shrinking back into his seat with a sullen glare, he prodded at his food with his chopsticks. Reborn was saying something, addressing the students while they were eating (lunch), but Tsuna hardly paid any attention to the hitman. He decided that he would ask Yamamoto or Gokudera about Reborn's instruction later, or Ryohei, if the boxer was currently paying attention. Idly he wondered where Lambo was.

"…but since fifteen of your friends can't make it in the next few days, we will be dividing you people into five groups, with six people in each group. Each group will have a leader—a person from Vongola—so there will be no need to worry, if any problems occur."

_Problems._

Reborn made everything sound so absurdly easy. It was actually ludicrous.

"We'll be leaving at eight in the morning, tomorrow." Reborn continued, "But before that, we will be dividing you into the groups tonight. Gather at the lounging rooms after dinner."

With that, Reborn pretty much skipped out of the dining hall. Tsuna could _feel _the glee in Reborn's system. Not a good sign.

"I don't want to go," Tsuna complained to Gokudera once he was sure that Reborn was out of earshot. He still had a feeling that his tutor _still _knew what he had just said.

Gokudera frowned at him subtly, as if his reluctance made no sense to him, "Why, Tenth?"

"I'm pretty excited," Yamamoto commented from his left.

Tsuna, still being coerced to sit at the head of the table, glanced at Yamamoto. The baseball fanatic, like Gokudera, looked bewildered at his reluctance, and one glance at Ryohei's, Chrome's, Kyoko's and Haru's face informed him that they were, too.

They just didn't get it. As much as Tsuna found it sad, Tsuna knew that they simply _did not get it._

He recalled Gokudera's words, _Why, Tenth? _and his stomach churned unpleasantly.

"I have a _very_ bad feeling about this…"

* * *

><p>Arashi's finger twitched. Beside him, Takahira looked equally peeved, and Arashi felt that. The annoyance.<p>

_Dame-Tsuna _was in their group.

The spoil sport was in _their _group! Of all people they could be with, why did it have to be that _idiot?_

Arashi took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. Apart from Dame-Tsuna, there were two girls in their group—Hinata (which he was really thankful for), a shy girl called Hanabi and, thankfully, also Kaneda. That still did not remove Dame-Tsuna from being in _their _group. He glanced at the sheet of paper given to him, making sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him.

_Sawada Tsunayoshi._

Dammit.

After the unpleasant knowledge, Takahira decided to walk about in the mansion. Arashi and Kaneda were busy sulking about being stuck with the only person who'd destroy all the fun, and Takahira understood precisely what his friends meant. He, too, was angry at Tsuna for being with them.

On the bright side, though, maybe he could bully Tsuna again. He hadn't been doing that for a long time. Making a mental note to remind Arashi of the very sparkly silver lining on the cloud, he paused when he heard someone scream:

"I AM ABSOLUTELY AGAINST THIS!"

Gokudera, Takahira recognized. Bringing himself closer to the door of the room from where the voice was coming from, a part of Takahira was satisfied that there was enough gap in between the doors for him to see through. He peered in.

"I can't let the Tenth go on his own!"

"Um, Gokudera-kun," this was Tsuna, Takahira could see, "It's alright, seriously! Nothing will happen to me!"

Gokudera glanced at Tsuna, gaze sharp, "We can't be sure!"

"But—!"

"Gokudera has a point," Yamamoto interrupted.

Takahira could not find it in himself to be surprised to see the baseball fanatic with the brunette. Even though it annoyed him, it was obvious that one of the most popular guys in the school stuck to Tsuna like glue.

"Honestly, Tsuna, I am not exactly comfortable leaving you without one of us."

"Yamamoto, I'll be _fine_—"

"I agree with Yamamoto," Ryohei added, uncharacteristically serious, "I am not comfortable, either."

"_Onii-san!_"

"Thank you!" Gokudera exclaimed, "_Finally _you two are showing intelligence!"

"But—! _Chrome!_" Tsuna tried.

Takahira could not see Chrome from the measly gap, but he heard her say:

"I agree with Yamamoto-san, Gokudera-san and Sasagawa-san, Boss."

"So! Now that that is decided," Gokudera turned to someone else on the bed—he couldn't see the person since Gokudera was blocking his view. Gokudera continued, "I'm going with him, Reborn-san."

"No_." _The voice was horribly shrill and downright squeaky; Takahira had a feeling that he had heard it before.

The four immediately started voicing out their protests, even Chrome, which was a surprise in itself since she wasn't exactly the sort to speak. Much. Or at all.

"Tsuna will have to do this on his own. He's been depending on you guys a lot— seeing what he is going to become, he needs to be independent."

There was a squawk from Tsuna, "I am _not _going to become—! Reborn!"

"Stop whining," Reborn chided. Takahira noticed that the squeaky voiced person's instruction was enough to shut all of them up.

A short silence followed the order, the four allowing Reborn's words to settle in. Their stances showed that they _were _contemplating the words, but were blatantly reluctant to do so. Finally Gokudera spoke, running an anxious hand over his face, making a move towards his pocket before twitching in annoyance.

"Okay, Reborn-san, I agree. But," he conditioned, "send Tenth with someone else. Not just the leader—someone else from the Vongola. In case."

There was a short pause from the person named Reborn. Even from this distance, Takahira could see how Ryohei, Yamamoto and Gokudera's shoulders were tensed, waiting but not hoping for a rejection. Finally, Reborn said:

"Okay."

Pause.

"Huh, that was…easy." Tsuna commented, voice dripping with suspicion and disbelief, "What are you planning?"

"I'm not planning anything, you idiot. You guys should go to sleep now—tomorrow'll a long day."

* * *

><p>When Alessandro had been ordered to go with the Neo Vongola Primo for the camp, he had jumped upon the opportunity instantly. <em>Get to know the Decimo, <em>his Boss had specifically told him. This was just the perfect opportunity to do so. From his position, the dark skinned Italian adjusted his tie, glancing nervously at the others present in the room.

He recognized all of them, as he tried to school his expression.

Lal Mirch, Collenello, Skull, Fon and Oregano.

Except for Oregano, the rest were all ex-Arcobaleno. He was more awed than surprised by their arrival; this _was_ the heir's classmates and Guardians, after all, so their presence wasn't at all redundant. Just about then, the Decimo and his classmates entered. The former took one, short glance at his surroundings, looking just about ready to crawl back to his room like a pathetic dying animal, ready to finally breathe his last breath.

Alessandro wondered why.

* * *

><p>Their leader went by the name of Lal Mirch. And she was goddamn <em>hot.<em>

Their group had been appointed to her—or she had been appointed to them, depending on how one looked at it. Her introduction had been curt, short and straight to the point, a cursory glance sent to all the six, nervous students standing in a line. She had then provided them with paraphernalia required for camping, before ordering them to follow her out of the mansion.

Takahira had glanced at the three babies who were _also _the leaders of other's groups, and had continued staring. The students who were being led by the babies were either busy cooing at their cuteness or sending unsure glances at the infants.

He saw Arashi glancing at the dark haired Italian following them—Alessandro, the man had introduced himself as. Last night, he had told Kaneda and Arashi about the conversation he had heard between Tsuna, his friends and the mysterious man going by the name of 'Reborn', so Takahira knew what Arashi was wondering.

_Who is he and why has he been sent to accompany Tsuna?_

If Gokudera was the rich one, didn't _he _need a bodyguard around? Why _Tsuna?_

The car ride for Tsuna was been horribly awkward. From in front of him, Lal had been sending amused glances in his direction, while Alessandro had been keeping a sharp eye on him. Both were more than a bit disconcerting, but he firmly refrained from commenting.

"Excuse me, Lal-san?" Takahira spoke up, "Where is it that we are going?"

Lal sent Takahira an appraising look, answering, "The hills in the south."

"How long will the journey take? And where is it?"

"We'll be arriving in a few minutes. It is a part of Vongola's property."

"Eh?! Just how rich is the Vongola?!" Arashi asked, eyes wide.

Lal smirked, "Pretty rich. Its power is increasing, and judging by who will be inheriting it, hopefully it will continue increasing."

Hinata frowned, "'Who will be inheriting it'? Is there going to be new Boss or something?"

Lal nodded, giving Tsuna a passing glance, "Yes."

"Have you ever met him, Lal-san?"

Lal looked at Tsuna once again, amusement increasing further as Tsuna tried to look unobtrusive, "Yes, I have."

"What is he like?" Arashi asked, leaning in.

Lal paused, pondering. When she spoke, her words were genuine, "He… he'll grow up to be a good Boss." She snorted then, "Though, he is an idiot; he's reluctant on being the Boss, and nobody knows why. Then again, he's young and horribly indecisive despite everything he has gone through, which is actually pretty annoying."

"Is he hot?" Hinata asked excitedly, eyes gleaming.

Lal snorted, and Tsuna shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "Yeah, right. I doubt you'd call him 'hot', but he certainly does not lack in charisma."

Tsuna could feel his face burning.

"He's only fourteen, after all."

Five gasps erupted.

"He's about our age, then?" Kaneda questioned, "No wonder he is declining to take over such a huge company!"

Lal sniggered quietly, glancing at Tsuna again, "Oh, but I doubt he can do anything about it now. He's in _serious _debt due to… property damage, and the only way he can pay up for that is by sucking it up."

Tsuna gave a loud, mournful groan at this, prompting seven pairs of eyes to stare at him. Tsuna laughed awkwardly, and pointedly stared out of the window. Finally the car came to a stop, and Tsuna almost lurched forward at the abrupt halt. He saw Lal rolling her eyes at him at his clumsiness and Tsuna grinned sheepishly. The chauffer came and opened the door for them, and Tsuna, exiting, took in a deep breath of satisfaction.

He had always hated cramped spaces.

His breath hitched, however, when hairs on the nape of his neck stood up. His eyes zeroed in on the hill range, noticing, with no little degree of horror, how the _aura _of the whole chain seemed to practically _ooze _out evil. Tsuna shuddered, eyes wide.

"I'm getting out of here!" he announced loudly, abruptly, diving towards the car.

Arashi, Kaneda, Takahira, Hinata and Hanabi sent him annoyed glances, but Tsuna repeated firmly:

"I am _not _going there, Lal, you can't make me!"

Lal smirked, clearly enjoying his panicked state, "Of course you are, Sawada."

"No I am not! I can _feel _it!" he exclaimed, sweeping his hand over the general direction of the forested hills.

"Stop being a chicken, Dame-Tsuna!" Arashi chuckled.

Lal bristled at the nickname given to Tsuna, but said nothing regarding that. Instead, she forcefully grabbed Tsuna's arm, successfully dragging him, away, ignoring his litanies of protests and squawks. Lal shoved him against Alessandro and ordered, "Keep a close eye on him—Alessandro, was it?"

Alessandro nodded, "Yes, mam."

Lal looked at her team, eyes epitomizing everything and anything unpleasant, and she announced, grinning, "Let's head towards Monte Di Montagna!"

Tsuna gaped at her. It was during times like these that he cursed the fact that he knew Italian so well.

_Monte Di Montagna._

He shuddered, mouth and throat drying.

_Death Mountain._

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><p><strong>Please tell me your thoughts!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**New chapter! Yeah! Your reviews MADE MY DAY! I hadn't expected such positive responses from you guys after the creation of such a short chapter! Love you!**

**To DarkIceAngelFlare:Lal is an adult here since this fic is held after the manga; since Lal was partially cursed and not fully like the others, she became an adult immediately after being de-cursed, unlike the other Arcobaleno, who still resemble infants. Hoped that removed your doubt. :)**

**I apologize for the late update. Things known as exams and projects came into the equation and, well, when you have to submit two dozen or so projects, the last thing any normal person will worry about is how Tsuna is going to survive, right?**

**Fact is: I AM ABNORMAL.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Arashi, taking in a deep, troubled breath, watched, with no little amount of annoyance, how far Tsuna was from them. The brunette was engrossed in a conversation with Lal Mirch, which was a huge surprise. Lal did not seem to like the sort of woman to talk with lame people—but there she was, <em>talking <em>with _Dame-Tsuna _and looking interested while doing so.

It pissed Arashi off.

"How the hell is he _doing _that?!" Hinata exclaimed, wiping sweat from her brow. Arashi did not need to ask her who she was talking about.

Beside him, Takahira bristled, not succeeding at hiding his ire.

It was a wonder, after all, how _the_ weakest student with no flair for sports (or walking, bluntly speaking) was keeping up with Lal and Alessandro who were, for the record, _insanely fast._ And Tsuna was talking animatedly while doing so! Arashi did not have enough energy to _breathe_, and that was probably the understatement of the century.

Arashi continued glaring at the brunette a few hundred metres away from them.

They finally arrived at a little clearing Lal instructed them to make their tents in. Nobody jumped into doing the task—earning glowers and disdainful looks from Lal in the process—because they figured that resting was what their bodies seriously needed.

Takahira hurled himself towards the ground with a grunt, taking in a deep breath. His legs felt like fucking led.

He glanced at Tsuna who was standing in the middle of the clearing awkwardly.

The brunette did not even look tired; in fact he looked positively rejuvenated. Not a single bead of sweat clung to his body—they had been trekking under the goddamn _sun _for five freaking _hours_; how the hell did he not even _look _tired? They had been requesting for breaks after the first hour and a half, only to be threatened to be left behind if they did not get their asses moving.

Takahira was pretty sure that he, along with the others, were busy staring at Tsuna with various expressions of awe and annoyance.

Tsuna shifted, awkward, when he felt five pairs of eyes on him.

"Is something wrong?" he asked tentatively.

"You," Arashi snarled immediately, "_you _are what's wrong!"

Tsuna cocked his head to one side inquiringly.

"Excuse me?" Tsuna asked, bewildered.

"Sawada."

At Lal's interruption, Tsuna looked at the ex-Arcobaleno who was calling him over. Glad to have an excuse to leave, he readily agreed to dash up to her, looking at Lal questioningly when the woman shoved a roll of polyethylene towards him.

"Make the tent," she ordered.

"Eh? _Now? _I want to rest!"

Lal gave him a disbelieving look, "And you expect me to believe you? Really, Sawada? Has Reborn been going soft on you?"

"No, but—"

"Thought so. It _is _physically impossible for Reborn to be soft on anyone. Since that's the case—no dilly dallying."

"Lal—"

"Look," Lal interrupted, glancing at the five who had been staring at the two curiously during the entire conversation. Making sure to increase the volume of her voice, she stated, "your classmates are pathetic. I am not even exaggerating. Just a simple climb, and they look like they have been running for over a month continuously."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tsuna saw Takahira and Hinata bristle.

"Well, _excuse us _for being tired!" Arashi yelled indignantly.

Lal ignored the comment, "And you evidently do _not _look tired, so yes. Make. The. Tent."

"It's useless to give the job to Dame-Tsuna!" Arashi declared, irate at being dismissed so easily, "He will end up making a mess of it like he usually does!"

Lal turned to Arashi frigidly, and Arashi froze at the cold glare tossed at him.

"Did I ask you of your opinion?"

Arshi gulped, perspiring, replying immediately, "No, mam. Sorry mam."

Snorting at the lack of a protest, she tapped at the roll of polyester in Tsuna's hand, and left to make her own tent. Tsuna sighed and got down to work, fishing out the required pegs and a dutiful hammer. With panache he had no idea he was executing, he completed the work in five minutes flat, only to find himself being stared at incredulously by five pairs of eyes. For some reason, Hinata and Hanabi were blushing brightly, while the faces of the boys were suspiciously colored.

Shifting, he gave them bemused looks, "What?"

"No-nothing," Hinata mumbled quickly, staring at the ground, noticing how the others quickly followed her action.

Lal smirked to herself at their reactions. It wasn't an unknown fact to them that whenever Sawada did something with meticulousness and integrity, he made everybody pause in their actions and stare at him in awe, either because of the _flair _he did the action with or because of how—suddenly—insanely _good _he looked. Lal frowned in slight annoyance; though Tsuna _did _affect people like that, the brunette was painfully oblivious to it. It was thoroughly annoying, to say the truth.

With an exasperated sigh, Lal went back to the task at hand, noticing Alessandro hastily following her actions.

* * *

><p>The next day's morning was insanely chilly; despite the cold, Tsuna woke up at four, having learnt that staying with Reborn meant that waking up at such an ungodly hour became a genetic problem rather than a mental one. Gently stepping out of the tent he was sharing with the the boys, he made sure not to wake up any of them, feeling the grass tickling his bare feet once he stepped out; he smiled at the feel. Brushing his teeth and getting ready for the rest of the day, he decided that he wanted to run.<p>

After twenty minutes of aimless running, he came across Hibari and paused in front of the prefect.

"What are you doing here, Hibari-san?"

Hibari pursed his lips, eyes narrowing. If he was trying to be intimidating, he was failing pathetically because it had become somewhat difficult for Tsuna to fear Hibari—even if he was a terrifying, psychopathic megalomaniac hell bent on biting Tsuna to death. Hibari did not reply and apparently the prefect preferred it to be that way. Tsuna glanced at him, noticed the subtly troubled expression, and looked at skylark's head.

"Where did you last see him?" Tsuna asked after a moment, "I'll help you search for Hibird."

If Hibari was bothered by how Tsuna had read his mind, he said nothing, stalking past Tsuna. The brunette gave an exasperated sigh, lips tilting up in light amusement. Hibari was a stubborn person by nature, refusing to ask for help because it was too 'herbivorous'. Hibari hadn't said no to Tsuna's offer for help, though, and that was the closest the other could get to saying that he required help.

"I'll bring him to you once I find Hibird!" Tsuna called after him. Hibari didn't bother pausing before being swallowed by green and nature.

Tsuna looked around, wondering from where to start, when he heard intermittent clicks. Sharp ears catching the sound immediately, his eyes zeroed on a tiny red and white monkey on a tree branch. It took him a moment to recall that it was Fon's pet, Lichi. Lichi made a few more clucks, before scurrying away, jumping from one tree branch to the other. Tsuna followed.

He came across a bush Lichi was standing near. The monkey pointed at it, prompting Tsuna to look at the bush quizzically.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

Lichi flicked her tail, and wrote something messily on the ground.

Tsuna gave an impressed grin at the messy katakana of the word 'Hibird' on the ground, accompanied by an arrow pointed at the bush.

"Who knew that you would be capable of writing?" Tsuna asked in awe, placing a hand in front of Lichi.

Looking inquisitively at the appendage, Lichi jumped on it, scurrying up to Tsuna's shoulder. Momentarily disappearing into the bush, Tsuna emerged with a bleeding Hibird, dropping to the ground and fishing out a roll of bandage, cotton and some antiseptic from his pocket. It was a good thing that he always carried them with him.

Hibird chirped feebly in pain; his left wing was broken, Tsuna could see, and tiny, thankfully non-life threatening, scratches adorned the bird's body. Tsuna treated the wound, applied the gauze and got up, Hibird cupped in his hands with Lichi 'kikiki'ing from her position on his shoulder. He left for the camp.

* * *

><p>"Where is Sawada?"<p>

"Dunno, Lal-san." Takahira hissed out in ire.

They had been woken up to _snakes _being dropped on them at _five in the freaking __**morning**_; Takahira was absolutely _livid. _

Alessandro looked suspiciously pale—Takahira shuddered at what the other had to go through in the hands of one Lal Mirch. She was _terrifying_.

Dame-Tsuna emerged from a thicket of bushes with a… monkey on his shoulder?

"Where did you disappear off to, you idiot?" Lal demanded.

Tsuna raised his cupped hands, and Lal raised an eyebrow. Trying to get a proper look at it, Takahira realized that it was Hibari Kyoya's pet. _Hibari-san's pet. _With _Tsuna._

_Shit, if Hibari-sama gets to know of this, he'll kill Dame-Tsuna and we will all have to die with him!_

Lal, however, simply sighed as if used to Dame-Tsuna kidnapping the pets of serial killers. Tsuna grinned sheepishly, took a curt nod from Lal as an assent, and dashed into the tent. Takahira sulked at how lucky Tsuna was—the brunette had not been woken up to snakes; which begged to question:

"How the hell did he wake up before us when he was the last to go to sleep?" Takahira wondered out loud.

Tsuna came bustling out a few minutes later, Hibird on his head, nestled in between his brown locks, a banana in one hand. He offered the fruit to the monkey on his shoulder as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do. The monkey accepted it, but stayed stuck to Tsuna.

"Now then," Lal announced, "I have prepared some… _things _for you students to make the camp more memorable."

Tsuna's eyes narrowed. If Lal noticed, she did not comment regarding that, fetching out, instead, a remote with a typical red button in the middle. Looking positively giddy, she pressed it with her thumb, and Tsuna's Intuition sparked. The ground shifted, fissures and cracks appeared, and before anyone knew it, what looked like a large training area emerged from the ground.

The ground was cemented in some places, wide and stretched out to a distance of about two hundred meter. Resembling a particularly barren street, it looked plain and empty and not at all intimidating.

"How did you _do _that?!" Five voices exclaimed, while Tsuna just looked on in resignation.

"Technology." Lal replied simply, and turned to Alessandro, jabbing a thumb towards the Italian, "This guy will show you a demonstration. The rules are simple—walk through this area once I say so, and then dodge, fight, whatever."

"Wait." Alessandro protested, wide eyed, "What do you mean I have to go? I never agreed to this."

Lal raised a disinterested eyebrow, "So what? You've been trained in Vongola, haven't you? This is child's play."

Alessandro tried protesting, but a glower from Lal effectively shut him up. There was a reason why Lal was chosen as one of the strongest by Checker Face, after all.

As Alessandro stepped forward, Lal continued, "It's pretty simple. Just run up to the finish line. Dodge, attack, and just don't let things hit you. Kind of like dodge ball but you _can _touch it to get it away from yourself. The trials won't be the same for everybody.." Lal turned to Alessandro, who had himself steadied, and announced, "Go!"

Alessandro did. He dodged the bullets which whizzed by with ease, ducking at the huge tree which flew at him from _nowhere_, had a _spike _go through his foot, before tripping and falling face first into what felt like water. He blinked, realizing that it _was _water and that there was something nipping at his feet.

Several somethings, actually.

"The piranhas haven't been fed for a _pretty _long time!" Lal chortled happily.

Everyone, with the exception of Tsuna, stared at her, wide eyed, before carefully inching away from the insane woman.

"There is a reason why I did not want to be in the middle of a training field planned by an Arcobaleno!" Alessandro hissed out savagely. Trying to stifle screams of terror whenever flesh was nipped out from his feet, he swam as fast as was humanely possible, and thankfully stepped out of the water.

The ground gave away, he fell and it mechanically closed.

Lal gave the area where Alessandro had disappeared a disappointed look, and murmured, "Reborn asked _him _to come with Tsuna? What the hell is he _thinking?_" Shaking her head, she looked at Arashi, announcing, "You are next."

Arashi paled, and was literally kicked by Lal to the starting line.

* * *

><p>"Your classmates are <em>pathetic!"<em> Lal declared, after the five had gone through mini-Hell, "How the hell do you stay with them in the same classroom is still a mystery to me, Sawada."

Tsuna gave a small smile, glancing worriedly at his classmates lying, two hundred meters from them, flat on the ground. The one to be least injured was Takahira—problem was, Takahira would have been dead if not for Tsuna all but _ordering _the boy to dodge when a bullet had been aimed to his heart. He had stepped on two mines, currently had three arrows stuck to his back (which were being plucked out by a medic that had appeared out of God-knows-where), had been chased by a man-eating spider, and had been forced to walk through a quagmire. And that wasn't even half of the whole thing.

Tsuna looked at the other four and winced. They were conscious, thankfully, but bloody. The only reason why they were alive was because a panicked Tsuna had told them to _move to the right, the ground is crumbling, jump _and the like.

"It's your chance next."

Tsuna stepped forward. He wasn't planning on being serious for this; he had an identity to hide, after all.

"By the way, Lal?"

"Hm?"

"Alessandro. Um, what happened to him? Is he okay?"

"Of course he is. The medical team will be arriving with him after some time. But that is not important. GO!"

Obliging to the barked order, Tsuna ran.

Laughter rang out from the other side as he tripped, and fell face first on the ground. Picking himself up, he continued running, ignoring his scraped knees. Spikes erupted from the ground, piercing through his toe, and Tsuna bit his lower lip. The thought of the pain was short lived; Tsuna yelped as the ground gave away.

There was a cry of "Sawada!" from Lal. Tsuna's fingers dug into the ground, and he hissed at the lack of something sturdy to stand on. Wincing, he looked down, at the deep, black abyss, and thought:

_Fuck this, I don't want to die._

With practiced ease he pulled himself up, and continued running. The air in front of him shifted, and he ducked, not bothering to give the bullets which whizzed past his head another glance. He heard Hibird, still on his head, chirp, while Lichi gave what Tsuna supposed was a squeal of glee. Five baseball bats came flying at him, all of which he swiftly evaded, easily evading the bombs which were flung at him next.

The next area he came across was not cemented; one glance at the subtly raised grounds informed him that it was a mine. Nimbly stepping on the areas incapable of blowing him into blood and gore (likely to be incinerated by the fire—Tsuna was glad that none of the others had gone through this), Tsuna stepped out of the area. An arrow came flying at him next, but Tsuna gracefully caught it in between his fingers, snapping it into two, clean pieces.

He looked at the tip, sniffed it, frowned and then turned to Lal accusingly. Distractedly, he dropped the arrow on the mined ground, which promptly blew up, but Tsuna paid it no mind.

"Are you trying to kill me?! It had _poison _on it!"

Lal shrugged her shoulders, "Don't blame me; Reborn said that you were used to it."

"I would be paralyzed! My organs would dissolve, and I would die a painful death—_oh my God,_ did Reborn put you up to this?! I stole his coffee a _month ago!_"

Lal did not reply, and even if she did, Tsuna did not get the opportunity to hear her, as a volley of arrows flew at him. Resisting the urge to scowl, Tsuna ducked and rolled out of the way as spikes erupted from the ground, saving his body from being impaled by them. Kicking away the killing machine which chose to swing a missile-enabled chainsaw at him, Tsuna vaguely wondered how this was his life before ripping the machine's head with his bare hands.

By the time he reached what Tsuna had dubbed as the 'The-Zone-Whose-Existence-Had-Always-Seemed-Like-A-Too-Good-Dream-To-Me', Tsuna was hardly tired but more than a bit pissed off and rumpled (God, _his hair_) thinly glad at the lack of usage of Flames.

He also realized that five pair of eyes, wide and, for some reason, plain hilarious, were fixed on him, and that the same number of mouths were agape.

"At least you are not slacking off, Sawada." Lal told him, appearing beside him.

The (still hoping never-to-be) Neo Vongola Primo gave her, and his classmates, puzzled looks, before looking at the direction Lal's thumb was jabbing at.

His eyes came across two uprooted trees (Tsuna lamented; he _liked_ trees), four murdering robots with their heads ripped off and limbs lying around pathetically, the various signs of bomb explosions prominent on the training area, poison coated arrows sticking out from the ground, an overturned tank with the main gun and the tracks manually, but blithely, crushed and other miscellaneous… objects which would have otherwise killed a normal human being.

Hell, it would have killed an abnormal human being, too.

Hell, it _should _have killed _Dame-_Tsuna

Tsuna glanced at his classmates again and uttered only one sound:

"Oh."

Hibird chirped.

* * *

><p><strong>Please tell me your thoughts!<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**YOU GUYS MAKE MY LIFE.**

**Really. I am not kidding. Love to everybody who has reviewed, favorited and followed this story!**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>Prevaricating.<p>

Tsuna had become somewhat of an expert in doing that, especially after Reborn's glorious arrival into his life.

Currently he was prevaricating like his life depended on it, like humanity's _existence _depended on it, like there was no tomorrow for him, or anyone else, for that matter.

A curiosity filled gaze pinned on him, followed by, "Hey Dame-Tsuna, how did you—" had had his foot 'accidentally' come in contact with Takahira's bleeding torso, making the other break out into litanies of familiar curses. It had immensely helped that his classmate had—still was; Tsuna suspected that his 'accidental' kick was partially responsible for it— been lying on the ground.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry, I'll, um, go get water or something. For the blood. Yeah," Tsuna had said hastily, before fleeing from the scene and clinging to Lal like, again, his life depended on it.

If there was one thing Tsuna had learnt over the past few hours about the other five, it was definitely that the five were scared of Lal and preferred not to get within a foot of her presence. Which was kind of ridiculous, now that Tsuna thought about it; not that he was complaining in the least. It prevented him from answering questions which had the potential to reveal who he was, after all.

On a completely different note, Lichi and Hibird stayed stuck to him like glue.

Tsuna was on the floor, playing with the two while Lal was busy talking to someone on the phone. Tsuna could feel Natsu wanting to come out, but since five eyes were trained solely on his existence, Tsuna coaxed the Sky Lion to stay back, promising to release him some time in the night.

"Sawada," Lal's voice broke in, and, still rubbing Hibird's head with one hand and tossing a gleeful Lichi into the air with the other, Tsuna gave the woman an inquisitive look.

Lal raised the phone in her hand, "For you."

Tsuna paused, placing Hibird on his head as Lichi scurried up to his shoulder, before getting up and taking the offered phone.

Arashi saw Dame-Tsuna press the receiver to his ear. He couldn't hear the conversation because the brunette was _far _away from them, and as much as Arashi was curious, he valued his life and preferred it not to be anywhere near Lal Mirch.

His thoughts went back to what Dame-Tsuna had done, glad that he had been fed pain killers which were currently allowing him to think without wanting to groan and moan and roll on the floor with pain.

It was impossible. Absolutely _impossible._

For _him _to come out, with the exception of a bleeding toe, unscathed was _not possible. _

It shouldn't have been possible; this was _Dame-Tsuna _for Buddha's sake! But there he had been, weaving through paraphernalia used for murder and shedding blood like it was _nothing!_

Arashi grit his teeth. It took him a moment to realize that he was _jealous. _Of Dame-Tsuna.

How was _that_ possible?

The only thing which made the revelation a bit better was that he knew that the other four felt the same, too.

"Really?!"

Arashi's eyes zeroed to Tsuna, noticing the somewhat dopey grin on the brunette's face.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Tsuna gushed out happily, "Thank you, Shamal!"

Arashi paused. 'Shamal'. Was he talking to Shamal, the perverted doctor in Namimori Middle who hit on girls but was never kicked out on the charges of sexual harassment? Since when did Dame-Tsuna and he get chummy enough to talk over the phone?

Tsuna's voice quieted down again, as the brunette gave an unfamiliar laugh, warm and sweet and—

_Okay, now __**that**_ _is just plain creepy. Since when did Dame-Tsuna's become warm and sweet?! _

Tsuna handed Lal the phone back, not replying to the questioning look the adult tossed at him. He shook his head instead and grinned to himself. Lal shrugged but did not pry.

Just about then, a familiar cry of a hawk pierced through the air. Lal looked up, and so did Tsuna, used to the familiar bird's cry. Falco came into their peripheral vision a few minute later, swooping down to land on Tsuna's head, Hibird shifting aside to make way for the larger bird.

Lal took the letter perched in between the bird's beak.

"Is it from Collonello?" Tsuna inquired.

"Yes," Lal replied, slipping out the paper from the envelope. She read through it, looked at Tsuna and explained, "He's nearby. He's asking us to meet him there, if possible."

"Will we?"

Lal shrugged, "Why not? But," her voice turned scornful, "judging by how ridiculously weak your classmates are, and the condition they are in, it will be impossible for us to move immediately."

Tsuna thought for a moment, "What about Sun Flames?"

"There are no Sun Flame users."

"What about the nurses?"

"First aid, only. And Sasagawa's not with us, either."

"I think my Flames will be enough, actually."

Lal gave him a bewildered look, catching on quickly, "Your Flames can heal?" Her voice was tinged with fascination.

"A bit. I don't know how it works, either, but Reborn says that it is because Sky Flames have the attribute of Harmony."

Lal thought for a moment. The Nono's Sky Flames couldn't heal, though. Maybe it had something to do with the purity of Flames? Lal was impressed—at this rate, Tsuna could easily become the strongest Vongola Boss, surpassing even Primo.

Lal _really _wished to become his tutor.

"But they need to be unconscious first," Tsuna continued, almost to himself, glancing at the students, "It will be less painful for them and I don't want them to see me with my Flames."

Lal grinned, "I'm on it."

She then proceeded to knock them out cold.

* * *

><p>When Takahira had woken up an hour later, after being whacked on the head with something suspiciously resembling a monkey wrench, he had felt rejuvenated.<p>

That word, however, had felt like an understatement. He had felt _warm _and safe, satisfaction thrumming through his veins. It had made him wonder whether he was a masochist because, surely, getting a mild concussion was, in no way, satisfying.

Lal, on the other hand, had given his awakened form one, long look, before announcing:

"Get up, get ready, we're leaving."

And then she had dropped a bucket full of leeches on him, watching with amusement as he had screamed and tried to desperately pry the invertebrates from himself.

They were trekking again, walking through the dense jungles. The initial feeling of rejuvenation had been soon replaced by lassitude and mild terror. The other four were in the same state, and Hinata and Hanabi were murmuring under their breaths about maggots attacking them. Alessandro, who had joined them minutes after the leech incident, was limping but easily walking ahead of them.

Further ahead of the Italian were Lal and Dame-Tsuna. The latter had a monkey on his shoulder, a ball of yellow fluff on his head, while an eagle flapped about excitedly, circling the brunette's head. Tsuna, on the other hand, it seemed, was tossing treats towards the bird, and said bird was busy snatching them from mid-air.

Every time the bird did some impossible feat and twisting-in-the-airs whilst in the process of capturing the treats, Tsuna would whoop in joy and the bird would look suspiciously satisfied.

"There's an octopus!" Hinata said in awe a few fifteen minutes later, staring, wide eyed, at a red animal perched on a branch, it's tentacles wrapped pathetically around it.

"It's Oodako!" Tsuna declared worriedly, rushing up to the weakly thrashing sea-creature, "He's injured!"

"Skull must be nearby, then," Lal declared, barely glancing at the creature. Which really made Takahira wonder what the woman went through in her daily life because there was an _octopus _in the _middle of a forest _and _how the hell was this normal in any manner?_

"I can heal him," Tsuna announced after, somehow, bringing the humungous red sea-creature down to earth.

Takahira wondered how much it weighed.

The brunette glanced worriedly at them for some reason, and then Lal said:

"I'm on it."

Takahira was knocked out cold for the second time that day.

* * *

><p>"Y'know, Lal, there was no point in knocking them out."<p>

"Are you ordering me, Sawada?"

"What-? No! Of course not! I'd never _dream _of it! What I'm saying is that you could have simply told them to move away or something…?"

"It's not fun that way, and they deserved to be hit. They are _weak_."

"…"

Tsuna distractedly patted Oodako's head who had, for some reason, after Tsuna's healing powers had come forth and worked its magic, taken a liking to stick as close to Tsuna as possible. It didn't help that as the number of animals sticking to him increased, the more moody and angry Natsu got.

"Where are we going?"

"Skull," Lal said, "He has students with him—we can't possibly leave them with that idiot."

Tsuna nodded, and then his eyes turned serious, "Do you think he was attacked?" he asked as Falco took her place on Tsuna's other shoulder.

"Likely." Lal confirmed, "His ridiculous of a pet was injured, after all."

"His injuries weren't life threatening, though." Tsuna tried, wanting an excuse to believe that no one was in a life threatening situation right about now.

He was aware, after all, how cruel and despotic Mafiosi were capable of being.

"Why is there an octopus with you?" Arashi asked, rubbing his swollen head.

Tsuna paused and turned around. They had been walking slower now, aware that if they decided to stay far off from each other, the chances of the students being attacked would be very high. Lal was obviously miffed by the slow speed, but she had—after enough requests from Tsuna—agreed to walk like a legless turtle.

Tsuna shrugged and answered, patting Oodako's head again, "He just stuck to me."

Arashi scowled.

"You saw the area," Lal continued, ignoring the interruption, "A fight took place."

Tsuna nodded, frowning subtly. If one ignored an injured octopus, the sheer amount of damage the trees had suffered from, followed by the faint vestiges of Flames, was a big give away. Not that it helped matters any. If the students got hurt because of _him_, Tsuna wouldn't be sure what to do.

He needed to search for something—clues, hints, whatever. The main aim was to reach Skull and the students; he vaguely recalled that two students under Skull's lead consisted of Chrome and Kyoko, and panic swallowed him up whole. If something happened to them, he would_ never_ be able to forgive himself.

Sharp eyes looked around, searching laconically for disturbances—_anything _to give Skull's current location away.

A lightly charred or a broken branch, groves formed by foreign objects on the barks, torn leaves, traces of Flames…

"We take a right from here," Tsuna concluded, "Skull will be there."

Lal looked at him, then around her and said approvingly, "You're getting good at this, Sawada. Right it is."

"And you just _listen _to him?" Takahira protested, "He can't tell the difference between north and south even if it were to _smack _him in the face and—"

"It's right; I came to the same conclusion, so _shut up._" Lal threatened.

"But—"

Lal ignored him, taking a right, with Tsuna following her, an octopus ambling cheerfully behind him and a bird of prey flapping around his head.

They came across another spot, and Lal paused, looking at Tsuna questioningly.

"What do you think?"

Tsuan looked around sharply, and declared after a few moments, "Straight."

"Could be left."

Tsuna shook his head, and said simply "Marks on the fourth and the fifth tree. Whatever attacked them was sharp, and judging by the raised ground here and there, it's straight."

Lal nodded in approval while Alessandro looked impressed.

"_This is ridiculous!" _Takahira hissed out, "Dame-Tsuna's just showing off! This was pre-planned!"

"It's obvious," Kaneda and Hinata agreed, while Hanabi scowled at the brunette in disapproval.

That's how it went. Every time they paused, Lal would look questioningly at Tsuna, and he would come up to a warped up conclusion, and then all of them would _have _to follow or else be left behind. It didn't help that they felt like they were fucking _third wheels _despite there being five of them.

"They're here." Tsuna whispers quietly, a few minutes later, coming to another grassy region.

"I know," Lal mentioned, stepping forward, "You guys stay back," Lal ordered, giving the five warning and disapproving glances, "Do _not _come forward, you hear? Sawada and I'll handle this."

"Like hell I'm going to listen to _you_," Takahira seethed, "You're asking _him _to go with you, Lal-san, and with all due respect, that's the worst plan ever created by mankind! He will not be—"

"Stay back," Tsuna's voice would have sounded pleading if it weren't for how _dangerous _he looked all of a sudden, "My friends are there, so stay _back_."

Takahira wanted to nod. He really did, because the conviction and determination and light desperation in the other's voice was reassuring yet terrifying at the same time for some reason, _but still. _He had his pride.

"Fuck you," Takahira spat out savagely, "There's no _way _I am going to listen to _you _of all people!"

Takahira determinately stepped forward, being jerked back by Tsuna the moment a bullet would have shot him dead. It took him a moment to realize that they were under _attack _and that bullets were flying at them from all directions. Hinata and Hanabi shrieked, ducking reflexively, while Arashi, Kaneda and Takahira were forcefully made to lick the ground by Lal.

"_Crap, _we're under attack!" Tsuna's voice broke through, panic evident, "What about Chrome and Kyoko-cha—"

"We'll find them!" Lal interrupted, and Takahira heard the unfamiliar click of a gun, "You get out of here, Sawada!"

"But—"

"Look," Lal assured, "they're after you—that much is pretty obvious. _Get out of here. _Search for Collonello and Fon, but make sure not to die. I swear to God, Sawada, if you _do _manage to get yourself killed, I will personally summon your spirit and burn you to death, you hear me?"

"I'm staying here and fighting with you!"

"Like hell you are!" Lal hissed, stepping away from the tree protecting her from the bullets and firing a round, "And take the kids with you, and Alessandro. Defeating these guys will be a piece of cake— but with _them,_" here she pointed at the five crouching students, who were looking at Lal, the bullets whizzing by and the gun in her hand with expressions of varying horror, "around? Not a piece of cake unless they are suicidal."

Tsuna felt conflicted. On one hand, the mere _thought _of leaving Lal here, alone, to fight with the assassins sent to kill _him _did not sit well with him; on the other hand, there were five more lives to protect, five more people who could easily die if left alone.

Tsuna did not have much of a choice in the matter—it was sad that he never really did.

Gritting his teeth, he grabbed Alessandro by the hand and ran, hearing the other five running after them. They were being followed, Tsuna knew, and though the urge to turn back and defend and protect was almost impossible to contain, he was also rational. Lest the others sent bullets or Flames at them, fighting was out of the question—the chances of the five students (_not meant to be a part of the darker side of society)_ getting injured, or worse, _killed_, was high.

He side-stepped as something whizzed by—one glance at the direction of the object informed him that it was not an object, but Flames. Storm Flames, belonging to the enemy.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted Alessandro jogging beside him. The Italian's posture was relaxed, despite being in a miniature war-zone. Tsuna found it fishy, but later chalked it up as his imagination.

"Shit, shit, shit, _shit!" _Arashi cursed, when a bullet—a normal one, Tsuna thought, lightly relieved—grazed his skin, "I did not sign up for this!"

The animals had followed Tsuna, too, increasing Tsuna's worry about their lives ten folds.

They arrived by a little clearing, and Tsuna, with no little amount of dread, realized that it was a _cliff._ A closer glance at it informed him that if they _did _decide to commit a group suicide, the chances of survival was zero, _and _that the chances of their bones turning into nothing but powder was hundred percent.

Great. Just _great_.

"Fuck, what do we do now?!" Kaneda yelled, horrified.

Hinata's voice shook as she turned around, watching figures with weapons stepping into the clearing, "Thi—This i-is _bad._ Really bad…"

Tsuna did not feel as worried at this point as he should have been, surprisingly.

_Good, _a part of him seemed to be thinking, _I'm about to be killed. I know what to do. I am used to this._

Twelve men arrived at the clearing, and Alessandro relaxed. He could see the Decimo thinking, trying to figure a way out of this mess. It wouldn't work, he knew. They were trapped, and his Famiglia's men were already there to capture or shoot down the Decimo—whichever; their Boss hadn't specified.

"Who's the one?" one of the men barked out, and as Alessandro readied himself to inform the man—Matthew was his name, if Alessandro recalled correctly—with a cautious and unobtrusive gesticulation, the Decimo announced:

"I'm _really _sorry for doing this to you guys."

And then he pushed Alessandro from the cliff, followed by the students, before leaping from there himself.

The animals happily followed Tsuna.

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><p><strong>Please leave a review on your way out!<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Another comparatively shorter chapter, but oh well.**

**Thank you so much for your reviews! Made my day! You guys are the best!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>As Alessandro fell, all he could think was <em>oh fuck, oh fuck, oh <em>_**fuck.**_

Of all the scenarios he had expected, being pushed from the cliff by the person he was supposed to have captured definitely wasn't one. He screamed like he never had before, screw sophistication. He was about to _die, _goddammit!

_This is all Boss' fault!_, he thought savagely, getting the urge to cry or _something_; he did not _want_ to die!

Red gloves, warm and familiar, wrapped around each of Tsuna's palms as he saw through light orange. Astute, he looked at each of his classmates who weren't, oddly enough, blaming him for their impending doom—then again, they _were_ screaming their lungs out, faces pale, terror evident in their wild, wide eyed gazes.

Not allowing a moment to go to wastage, he propelled himself forward towards Arashi and knocked the boy out cold. Calmly, as if he was used to the routine—which, in retrospect, he sort of was—he, with equal calmness, knocked the others, save Alessandro, out cold. Hibird and Lichi were still perched on his head and shoulder, respectively, while Falco was flying down, towards them. Oodako was using himself as a parachute, which wasn't really _that _surprising seeing that chameleons were capable of turning into guns, but it still made Tsuna pause and stare at the pet incredulously.

He grabbed Takahira and Hinata by their arms, sweeping down towards the ground and placing them gently there. He darted towards the direction of the sky, doing the same with Kaneda and Hanabi, closely followed by Arashi, until finally he found himself flying towards Alessandro.

"Put your arm around my shoulders."Tsuna ordered the Italian, glad to see how the other immediately and happily obliged.

"You know, Decimo," Alessandro started, still pale, only to be cut off when Tsuna, with another massive usage of Flames, sent them propelling towards the ground.

They landed on the ground, and Alessandro, after extracting himself from the Decimo, spent a few minutes clutching the area above his heart rather tightly. His legs felt like jelly.

"_You,_" Alessandro barked out in Italian, _"are fucking __**reckless.**__"_

Tsuna gave a sheepish laugh to that, and Alessandro took a moment to recall what exactly he had said and _who _exactly he had said it to.

Eyes widening immediately, fearing his face or something being burnt by the other, he broke into learned litanies of apologies, "I am so sorry, Decimo, I did not mean to—"

A frown marred Tsuna's face, "No, it's alright. Besides, I do not plan to become the Decimo or anything of that sort, and I guess I will have to just figure out a way to repay my debt or something. I mean, you _are _elder to me, aren't you? So it's okay, really!"

"But Decimo—"

"It's alright," Tsuna insisted, "And don't call me 'Decimo' or anything like that, okay? Just Tsuna is fine."

"Decimo—"

"_Tsuna_," Tsuna pressed on, stubborn.

Pursing his lips, Alessandro gave the brunette an odd look and nodded, smiling unconsciously, "Tsuna it is, then."

Tsuna beamed brightly, making Alessandro blink at the genuineness behind the action. Oodako landed a few feet behind the brunette, practically gluing its body to Tsuna's a few seconds later. Tsuna patted the animal's head again, making it purr or do something like that.

"What do we do now?" Alessandro asked, picking himself up.

What Alessandro would have liked was to direct the Decimo towards his Famiglia, but he knew that he could not be too insistent. It would definitely lead to suspicion being culminated in his general direction.

"For now we get as far away as we can from them," Tsuna replied, jabbing his thumb in the direction of the cliff.

"What about the students? They are unconscious."

Tsuna looked at his watch, frowning subtly, as if trying to recall something, "They'll be getting up…" he tapped the glass of the watch, "…right about now."

Five bodies stirred awake.

"Are you guys alright?" Tsuna asked worriedly, jogging up to the five.

Arashi fixed a wild eyed gaze at him, "You pushed me from a _cliff!_"

"…Of course I did not."

"And you can _fly!_" Takahira shrieked.

"…no I can't."

"You can!" Hinata insisted, red faced, "And you _hit me!_"

"…I didn't."

"You _did!" _Kaneda disagreed, "I saw you! And you were flying!"

Tsuna feigned nonchalance, "How can a human fly?"

"_I_ don't know!" Arashi said, "But you fucking _pushed me from a __**cliff.**_"

"Yeah, what the hell was up with that?!" Kaneda added

"What else did you expect?" Tsuna retorted, "Getting shot? Being kidnapped, and then killed? At least you guys are alive now; _be satisfied._"

Unsurprisingly enough, that shut every one up. The shock of Dame-Tsuna _retorting _and being _sensible _while doing so had them going into temporary shock. Arashi and Takahira gritted their teeth—being bested by the brunette was not good for their ego.

"But… how are we alive? That fall should have killed us!" Hanabi pointed out.

Tsuna waved his hand dismissively, "The trees broke your fall."

"We aren't injured," she mentioned.

Tsuna shrugged, "You guys were lucky—that's it, really. Questions aren't important now; we need to get out of here."

Hinata frowned, "Why?"

As if to answer her question, Flames shot down at them from above, raining green, blue, yellow, indigo, red and purple. Tsuna glanced up briefly and cursed under his breath. Thankfully, though, the Flames were far away from their group, but at the rate of which they were following followed by the sheer _amount _of the Flames, they could easily incinerate the students.

"Get out of here!" Tsuna ordered immediately, rushing towards them and pushing them away, "Alessandro, take them and _run!_"

Alessandro nodded, getting into the role of being someone from Vongola. He couldn't see or sense the Flames, but he had heard enough on how the Decimo was sensitive to impending doom.

"Follow me!" he ordered.

"Eh? Why?" Hinata questioned, ignoring Alessandro's order, staring at the brunette.

"And why should we listen to _you?_" Arashi demanded, recalcitrant.

"Don't think you can just order us around, Dame-Tsuna!" Takahira added.

There was a short moment of silence.

Tsuna took in a deep breath. _Calm down_, he reminded himself. Fact was, he _couldn't _be calm. The whole situation and its future consequences was something his brain had informed him of a few seconds prior—much to his own regret, because the situation was clearly not in their favor. The students were incapable of fighting—with the exception of Takahira, who Tsuna was aware, learned judo, but that was useless against Flames and the type of dirty fighting the Mafia performed.

And Tsuna's conscience still hadn't quite let go of the fact that he had left Lal _alone _to fend for herself.

Granted, she was _insanely _strong, but still. She was family and abandoning family was something Tsuna would never be good at.

"Listen," he said lowly, eyes narrowing as he met each and every one of their gazes, including Alessandro's, "you _will _be following Alessandro and getting out of here, you hear me? This is _for you_; if you _want _to survive with the given the circumstances, all I can say with a hundred percent certainty is that the one experienced in this particular field _is _me."

He could feel himself slowly easing into what Onii-san and Yamamoto joked and called 'Boss Mode', which probably explained why their faces had paled. It didn't matter now if he was scaring them (though he hoped he wasn't), but they needed to_ escape, _and that was what mattered the most.

"H-How would you know?" Arashi tried to demand with a brave voice—it failed spectacularly under Tsuna's unwavering gaze.

"I just do." Tsuna replied dismissively, "Now: _run_."

Unconsciously the boy stepped back, sweating, and the others followed. Alessandro, who was trying not to faint at the sheer amount of _fear _that had taken hold of his heart, ordered them to follow him. Slowly they turned around and disappeared into the forest, and Tsuna gave out a breath of relief.

Well, at least that was taken care of.

Flames fell in the form of narrow arrows and Tsuna swiftly froze all of them. Minutes passed during which the same attrition continued—Tsuna's response to the attacks also remained the same. And then a huge ball of Cloud, Mist and Rain Flames came falling and Tsuna froze that, too.

Two minutes later, Tsuna stared blankly at the huge chunk of ice, almost half the size of the cliff, easily towering the trees and murmured:

"Okay, this will be _really _difficult to explain."

* * *

><p>The ground shook a few minutes after they had started running.<p>

Arashi turned around, and stared disbelievingly at what resembled an _iceberg _in the middle of the forest.

Okay, yeah, an octopus in the middle of the forest, he could understand. But an _iceberg?_

_What the fuck._

Exactly three minutes later, Tsuna emerged wits his 'entourage' of animals and smiled at them.

"Did you do that?" Kaneda asked.

Tsuna gave them a convincingly innocent look, smiling, "Did what?"

"_That." _Arashi snapped irritably, pointing up and behind the brunette.

Tsuna followed Arashi's line of sight. When he looked back at them, if Arashi had known, he would have given Tsuna the Best Actor's Award.

"How could I?"

"But you were there!" Arashi pointed out, "The ice is where you were!"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Tsuna said in confusion, still smiling, "Are you sure you did not hit your head too hard during the fall?"

Arashi looked helplessly at the other five, wondering why the hell they weren't supporting his statement, only to realize that their faces were pale. It was then that Arashi took notice of Tsuna's smile and promptly dubbed it as the scariest smile of the century.

"We need to find Colonello," Tsuna declared, smile wiping itself away from his face, "There are still people after us and we need protection."

Plus, Tsuna was planning to leave them under Colonello's and Alessandro's care and then try to find Lal. Ryohei was with Colonello which eased Tsuna's worry a bit more.

"Colonello?" Hanabi asked.

Tsuna glanced at her, replying, "Remember the leader of the other group, the person with blue eyes, blond and carrying a gun? He had her," here he lifted his arm so that Falco could stand on it, "as a pet? Him."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Kaneda protested, "We're searching for an _infant?"_

"Yep."

"You're kidding me. How's he going to help? He's a _baby. _Are you crazy?"

"Mm, I think so." He wasn't lying. "But what I can say is that Colonello's someone we can trust—someone we _do _need."

"By Colonello, you mean the Rain Arcobaleno," Alessandro questioned, hesitant. He had enough of ex-Arcobalenos after his meeting with one Lal Mirch.

"Ex-Rain Arcobaleno, yes," Tsuna confirmed, not bothering to not use unfamiliar words around the students. It was not as if they were going to question, anyway.

"You can't just order us around, _Dame-Tsuna_," Kaneda snapped.

"Why should we listen to you?" Arashi demanded again.

Tsuna gave him an incredulous look. Really? After his previous explanations, they were going to go around in circles?

Tsuna took in a deep breath. Different tactic, then.

"Because I _know _what I am doing. Your survival is up to you—I am not forcing you to follow me, and I am not going to. But I _will _be protecting each and every one of you, even if you do not want me to."

"We don't need your protection!" Arashi bellowed, "We can take care of ourselves."

"Arashi-kun's right," Hinata said, staring disapprovingly at Tsuna, "Do not get so full of yourself, Dame-Tsuna."

"Exactly. We aren't like Gokudera or Yamamoto!" Takahira put in, "_They _are the ones weak enough to want protection from the likes of _you._"

"Yeah, actually. What's up with them anyway? Remember the whole suicide thing Yamamoto pulled of a year ago? If all it took was Dame-Tsuna to not kill him, I'm pretty sure that all that drama was just for attention."

"No kidding," Kandeda snorted, "And Gokudera. He follows Dame-Tsuna like a _dog. _It's pathetic."

"And Chrome-chan!" Hanabi put in, "She's such a _bitch. _Pretending to be innocent and helpless all the time!"

"Ever looked at Enma, though? I mean, he's so fucking _pitiful_—"

His voice came to an abrupt halt. Chills went down their spines, even Alessandro's, who, after having first-hand experience on how the Decimo got whenever someone insulted anyone from his family, had been slowly inching away from the six. The air was heavy and choking, stale and downright _terrifying._

"Shut up," Tsuna's voice was insanely cold, eyes suddenly glowing orange, a few nodding distances away from looking murderous, "Shut up, or I swear that I will fucking make you _regret_. Don't you _dare_ insult my friends," he looked calm, however, abnormally calm, and that made it infinitely worse, "Insult me all you want; I don't care. One word against my friends, however…"

The threat hanging in the air as six heads vigorously nodded. Takahira looked just about ready to pee in his pants.

"Good," Tsuna said, his demeanor abruptly shifting, turning facetiously cheerful, "Let's get out of here, then, okay?"

Six heads nodded again and the respective owners of the said heads dutifully followed the brunette.

* * *

><p><strong>Extremely Leaderly Tsuna in the next chapter!<strong>

**Please leave a review on your way out!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you so much for the reviews!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>He landed softly, headed towards the direction of his classmates, and announced:<p>

"We're going east. I found a little wooden house over there."

Unsurprisingly, the five did not try protesting this time; Tsuna may or may not have scared the living shit out of them two hours back. They got up mutely, giving wary glances to brunette's face, half expecting him to go after their heads for whatever reasons.

Tsuna gave a worried look at the horizon—the sun was setting, the sky painted pink and orange; it would be dark soon. He breathed out a small sigh of little relief, glad that he had found that cottage. He did not want them to spend the rest of the night in the middle of the forest; it was dark, and the chances of an enemy Famiglia attacking them was certainly high.

He led the group where he had found the cottage during his little flying trip, worry easing just a bit at the sight of it. They slid down the slope, and walked cautiously towards it, half expecting people with guns to come barreling through and pointing weapons at them.

A shout of "Extreme!" reached their ears, and Tsuna grinned at the voice and the familiar word. All restriction evaporating on the spot, Tsuna pushed open the door, eyes coming in contact with an excited Ryohei talking amiably to Colonello. The Sasagawa's eyes fell on Tsuna and a cry of "SAWADA!" bubbled from the older male's lips.

"Onii-san!" Tsuna greeted back cheerfully as he entered, the six following him in.

Falco took its perch on Colonello's head as the infant greeted him.

Tsuna looked at Colonello's group who, due to the lack of a better word, looked like shit. Their faces were pale, bodies shivering, their postures reminiscent of people who had been through Hell and back. That did not matter to Tsuna; not now, at least. He had a much more important matter at hand.

"Some people attacked us," Tsuna informed Colonello and Ryohei, away from prying eyes and ears, "And Lal's fending them off. I am leaving the students with you and onii-san so that I can go and help her."

"There's no need," Colonello said, shrugging, "There's a reason why she became the COMUSBIN Boss, kora."

Tsuna shifted, "But I can't just _leave _her alone like that!"

"Of course you can, Sawada. Besides, I am pretty sure that she'll get pissed off for not following her orders, kora."

"But Skull got lost and she's searching for him and his team, too, and that's not good because—"

Ryohei grabbed Tsuna by his shoulders and shook him back and forth almost desperately.

"Isn't Kyoko with Skull to the extreme?!"

"Yes she is _which is why I want to go!"_

"I'll extremely go with you!" Ryohei sprung up immediately, "KYOKO IS THERE TO THE EXTREME!"

Tsuna nodded enthusiastically, feeling guilty. The reason, after all, why the trip had been initiated was _because _of Tsuna. He looked at Colonello for further confirmation.

"We'll leave the students with you then—"

Colonello interrupted, "Nope, I am going in your place, kora. Skull is there, right? Lal will kill him."

Tsuna gave him a disbelieving look, "No, I am pretty sure that you will help in killing Skull, Colonello."

Colonello scoffed, "Of course I won't, kora. Keep Falco with you, just in case. We're leaving then."

And then they left. Just like that.

Tsuna looked at the ten students scattered around the wooden house and gave a small groan of thin veiled annoyance. For some reason, everybody's eyes were fixed on him, which pretty much coerced him to look around the house, inspect every nook and cranny, eyes instinctively searching for any possible exits. There were five rooms in the upper floor—not enough beds for people to sleep on, therefore. Each room had a much needed bathroom, something which Tsuna was genuinely thankful for.

After Tsuna's more than thorough inspection, he headed back to where the other students and Alessandro were. They were chattering among themselves; no one so much as glanced at him when he entered. Tsuna sat beside Alessandro on one of the chairs, glancing outside the window and coming to the knowledge that the sun had already set, the surrounding blanketed with thick darkness.

The animals took their usual perch on various parts of the brunette's body.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hello, Deci—" Alessandro paused at Tsuna's discomfort before continuing, "Tsuna."

Tsuna smiled a bit, his thanks unspoken.

"Lal Mirch is one piece of work," Alessandro commented mildly.

Tsuna laughed, "Yep, that she is. She can get scary at times."

Alessandro shuddered, feeling his palms getting clammy.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Tsuna stiffening. He gazed at the teen worriedly, but the brunette paid him no attention, staring, intently, it seemed, into thin air. Tsuna sat up from his chair immediately, the furniture clattering on the wooden floor underneath, the sudden noise silencing none.

"I'm coming in a minute," Tsuna announced hastily, softly, and then dashed up the stairs.

He did come, in less than a minute, eyes wide and urgent.

"Get out!" he yelled over the chattering and injured students, "Get out of here and run!"

People ignored him, but five familiar students stiffened at the voice.

"GET OUT!"

The raised voice made all ten eyes turn to him, but none heeded the warning. Arashi, feeling courage rushing through his veins at the presence of five more people, bit out:

"We won't listen to you, Dame-Tsuna. _Give up._"

"Nobody here will," Hinata pointed out, "We might have heeded you _then, _but that was different."

"What do you mean?" a boy from Colonello's group asked, "You actually listened to _him?"_

Takahira scoffed, "We _had _to. This guy," he jabbed his thumb at Tsuna, "was 'ordering' us. Or trying to, at any rate."

Laughter sprung up in the children's midst, "You're _kidding _me! Trying to act all high and mighty, isn't he?"

Tsuna's eyebrow twitched. The insults he did not give a fuck about; their _lives, _on the other hand he _did. _His voice rang out, sharp and clear, leaving no room for arguments, anger radiating from his form with surprising ease.

"You _will _be getting out of here, you hear me?"

A beat of silence.

Children literally fought to exit the house, haste in their actions, unwarranted screams of fear ripping their throats.

With people crowding the front door, Tsuna preferred exiting through the window. He landed, throwing his body on the ground to prevent injuries to his feet, rolling and coming to a stop.

"Run!" Tsuna ordered once he had sprung back to his feet, allowing the students to get further from the house before following. _Shit, _he thought to himself, _there isn't enough time!_

As if to mock him, the house chose this as the perfect moment to blow up into smithereens. With the students behind him, Tsuna quickly set up condensed Soft Flames around, its form that of a half-dome, protecting all of them, including a gaping Alessandro. He vaguely felt eyes—those belonging to the students—on him, but he decided to worry about that later. The force of the explosion made him grit his teeth, feet digging into the ground below, recalcitrance not allowing him to give up.

It paid off, thankfully, and when only fire remained in place of the cottage and no pressure would send them reeling backwards, Tsuna dropped the shield. He breathed out a sigh of relief and glanced at the students behind him.

Resisting the need to give out a long drawn groan at their obvious incredulity, Tsuna decided to get one thing clear because Tsuna could be stubborn when he wanted to be, especially when their lives were on the line. Eyes turning orange, his shoulders relaxed, the stance of someone used to shit like this, someone who _had _survived compromising situations with a cool head.

"Everything I say, you _will _listen. Everything I order you to _do_, you _will _do. No questions, no arguments. Is that clear?"

Eleven heads nodded vigorously at his command, blood retracting itself from their faces.

"Good," Tsuna nodded appreciatively, eyes reverting back to brown, wide and innocent. He shook his head to remove the inevitable headache, and announced, "There is a little clearing by the river from here; I saw it while searching for the cottage. I know where it is, so follow me."

People nodded their heads again and obediently followed. They finallyreached the destination and Tsuna, during their walk, noticed how shaken Alessandro looked. It took him some time to figure out why and, when he did, Tsuna wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

If his family—or Famiglia, in Alessandro's case, Tsuna was sure—were to betray him, leave him to be burned to death, Tsuna was sure that he'd be pretty shaken up, too.

No tents could be set up since the required materials had been blown up with the cottage, but Tsuna was glad than some considerate classmate of his had had enough of an opportunity and intelligence to grab blankets—sixteen of them—on her way out.

"I'll be keeping a lookout. You guys should go to sleep."

"Yeah, right," a boy snorted from Tsuna's left, "I don't think I will feel _safe _with you—"

He was silenced by a sharp look from Tsuna, a squeak of "Sorry!" leaving his lips as he busied himself by huddling up with a blanket, inching as far away as was possible from Tsuna.

After making sure that everybody was lying down and would _remain _lying down, Tsuna sat by the river with a little huff, Oodako taking his place on Tsuna's left, snuggling close to him. Lichi and Hibird were huddled together on top of his head as Falco took her perch on Tsuna's shoulder.

"Hey," Tsuna called out to Alessandro, who was staring into the river, expression blank but hurt, "are you alright?"

Alessandro glanced at him and gave a forced smile that Tsuna easily saw through, "_I'm fine, Tsuna._"

Tsuna frowned subtly, replying back in Italian, _"You don't seem fine, though."_

The man laughed and, for some reason, scooted closer to Tsuna. If Tsuna were taller, they would have been shoulder to shoulder.

"_Shock," _the man said simply as a manner of reply.

Tsuna was careful not to mention what he knew, not accepting the reply but not mentioning that either. Tsuna was a great listener, not that great of a talker (which was a lie, but Tsuna was insanely modest like that). He should be angry, a part of Tsuna realized, but it was odd how he couldn't feel himself to be. He didn't know why.

Maybe it was because the alien brain of his had mysteriously informed him that Alessandro _wasn't _a bad guy.

"_Hey Tsuna?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_When I said those things about Xanxus, you were angry, right? Didn't Xanxus try to kill you? Yet you called him 'family'."_

"_I did, didn't I?" _Tsuna gave a short laugh, _"But it's true, y'know? There have been so many people after my head, that I have almost lost count. But,"_ he continued, twirling a grass blade in between his fingers, _"everybody needs a family. I was pretty lonely before I met Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto, so I know how important friends and family are. It's just," _he smiled softly at Alessandro, _"when nobody's there for you, your family sticks with you till the end. Family is everything." _Tsuna paused and reddened, realizing how cheesy that probably sounded, _"Um, that was maybe a bit pretentious, but that's how I feel, so…"_

Tsuna paused and looked at a contemplative Alessandro, "What about you? Don't you have a family?"

Alessandro blinked and shook his head, "No, I don't. I _thought _I did, but…" he sighed, getting up, "_Good night, Decimo._"

"_Good night."_

As Alessandro left to sleep and Tsuna continued to look at the river with animals cuddled close to him, ten people thought the same thing simultaneously.

_Dame-Tsuna knows Italian?_

* * *

><p>It started with a small rustle, but it woke Tsuna up immediately.<p>

Little whines and small bark like noises followed, and Tsuna's hands hurried to the mittens.

"Get up! Everyone, get up!" his voice was a mere whisper, but, _somehow_, it woke everyone up, eyes red and lids partially closed with sleep. Tsuna's eyes swept over everything, taking in the students' bleary and irritated gazes briefly. A bush to Arashi's right rustled again, and Tsuna reflexively sent a streak of Flames towards it.

"Oh my God, how the hell did that happen?!" Arashi and a few others shrieked, rushing away from the burning bush.

Tsuna could have answered that, but didn't. The burning bush whined, and something which was pink and fluffy and adorable and… burning spilled out.

Tsuna blinked as the creature danced on its feet and then rolled about in a morbidly cute manner. The fire disappeared, and what was left was the… animal. Creature. Thing.

But it was adorable, anyway.

"Dame-Tsuna, how _could _you?!" Hanabi said in horror, scooting towards the little creature, "I never expected you to be so cruel!"

She raised her hand towards the pink thing's head. The pink thing tilted its head to one side, staring inquisitively at the extended limb, and Tsuna could feel his whole body freezing.

"No! Shit, _don't touch it!_"

Takahira guffawed, "Don't tell me you're scared of such a cute thing? My God, I knew you are terrified of Chihuahuas, Dame-Tsuna, but this is too much!"

"Of course I am not scared!" Tsuna said truthfully, "But _you _guys should be! Listen, they travel in _packs _okay? And they are _dangerous_—"

He was cut off by a shriek from Hanabi. The animal—named kweler— had started transforming, teeth growing longer and sharper, ready to snap necks. Its muscles grew, becoming stronger, bones growing in length till it easily reached an average fifteen-year-old's waist. Eyes turning a viscous red, it snarled and Tsuna looked at a pale and shaking Takahira meaningfully.

"See what I mean?"

Takahira did not nod. Nobody did, in fact, not even Hanabi who had darted away from the animal towards the group of students, eyes wide.

Tsuna looked at the ten or so prowling Kwelers—nine of them had appeared out of God-knew-where— in exasperation. Really, he had enough of them in the Death Mountain in Namimori.

"Fire," he explained, perfectly calm, "They are terrified of fire."

"How do we get that?" Kaneda asked in a soft voice, shifting closer to the circle of students.

"Well, I can arrange that," Tsuna explained, "I can distract them, too. And while I will be doing that, run, okay?"

"Di-Distract?" a shaky voice spoke up, "Ho-How—"

"I have my methods," Tsuna shrugged, "Alessandro, take them and Oodako with yourself. When I tell you to run, run."

He did not wait for nods of confirmation, calmly taking ten steps forward till he was waist to eye with one kweler, a distance of about three feet in between them.

"Close your eyes," Tsuna instructed.

"Huh?" Eleven voices questioned.

"Close your _eyes._"

"What the hell, why should we—"

"Just close your eyes," Tsuna repeated, his voice commanding.

Eleven eyes closed abruptly, and Tsuna allowed a ball of Sky Flames to form in his right palm, making it grow brighter and brighter till it illuminated the whole forest, a mini-sun among their midst. The kwelers whined, and Tsuna, taking the pain and the distraction as an opportunity, kicked two Kwelers fluidly, allowing his ball of Flame to dim considerably. The kwelers, sensitive to noise and feel, turned to him with closed eyes.

"RUN!"

* * *

><p>Arashi ran as of his life depended on it (which it did, as sad as it was), following Alessandro, the students following close behind him. On a normal day, he would have questioned the bright light that had almost blinded him, but today <em>definitely <em>wasn't normal.

He didn't know how long he had been running, but when he glanced back to glance at where Tsuna was on his own, possibly fending off kwelers or being eaten by them, he saw something small, orange-ish and yellow-ish and looking vaguely like a tiny lion darting up from the trees. Howls of pain followed, and Arashi knew that they did not belong to Tsuna.

It made him wonder what the fuck Tsuna was doing there, especially when that region suddenly and mysteriously caught fire.

Tsuna arrived, emerging from a thicket of bushes, uninjured. He joined them and continued running.

"We need to get out of here fast. I have injured a few, but they are fast healers. And stubborn. Like, mind-bogglingly stubborn. They've never lost their prey, and possibly never will. We need to get to safety."

"P-prey…?" a soft voice inquired, panting with exhaustion.

Tsuna glanced at the student and nodded. She gulped, and so did several others.

"There's a reason why this mountain means Death Mountain, you know," Tsuna explained.

Arashi hadn't known that. If he had, he wouldn't have come to this Hell hole in the first place.

"Watch out—!"

Arashi felt something sticky draping over him. There were squeaks of disgust and then cries of fear; when Arashi tried to move his head to see why, he realized that he _couldn't _move his head. A slow paralysis was painlessly spreading through his entire being as he heard several hissing noises.

More screams followed the sibilance, and Arashi finally understood why, failing to open his mouth and scream in terror.

A spider. Five feet long. Crawling along a spider web towards them—towards _him._

The screams started dying, and as Arashi strained his eyes, he realized that everyone, with the exception of Tsuna, was stuck to the spider web, spider silk cocooning every part of their bodies with the exception of their faces. The spider was near now, ready to sink its fangs—or _something_—into his face, suck out the blood, leave him shriveled and anemic and _dead_ and—

Tsuna took in the space between him and the gigantic creature, and Arashi was surprised how it _stopped_.

"Don't you _dare _touch him," Tsuna's voice cold and horrifying, and Arashi could feel his heart's rate increase.

It was because of fear, he knew, but not because of fear of the spider.

He was terrified of Tsuna, who looked powerful now, strength easily rolling from his frame, an orange glow—like a second skin, _aura—_sending a thrum of energy and pressure all around the forest, and Arashi suddenly found himself chokingon it; he couldn't _breathe_.

And underlying all the fear, he felt an odd sense of acceptance.

The spider, terrified and wishing that it had never come across Tsuna, scurried away.

Tsuna breathed out a sigh of relief and glanced briefly at Arashi, eyes reverting back to brown. He touched the spider web lightly, orange flames coming to life. It started eating the fine silk, the method surprisingly graceful as Tsuna began explaining:

"The silk's mildly poisonous. It paralyzes you. Don't ask me why that spider did not cover the others' head; I have no idea."

Arashi watched with fascination as the fire ate away the cocoon around the other students' body, not harming them in any manner or form like one would have expected flames to, fizzling out of existence once the task was completed.

"Can you guys stand up?" Tsuna asked after fifteen minutes, and heads nodded in confirmation, bodies slowly and shakily picking themselves up, "Good. We need to get out of here right now—"

He did not complete the sentence, throwing himself in front of Alessandro, pushing the Italian back. A kweler, jumping from a bush, sank its teeth into Tsuna's shoulders.

"_Fuck,"_ Tsuna cursed.

Screams erupted from the standing students.

"Calm _down_," Tsuna ordered, "Get out of here, okay? I'll handle this one. The rest are nowhere nearby—I must have not hurt this one properly." Even while trying to pry the creature from his frame, Tsuna continued speaking calmly, blood now easily flowing from the wound, "Take Lichi, Hibird, Oodako and Falco with you, Alessandro."

The kweler growled, feet now clawing Tsuna's chest, scraping the skin with ease.

"_RUN!" _Tsuna commanded, and it was immediately followed.

* * *

><p>He had lost too much blood.<p>

"Reborn's gonna kill me if he finds me like this," Tsuna thought humorlessly, using his right palm to find the under belly of the kweler.

Apparently understanding what Tsuna was intending to do, the kweler leaped away before Tsuna sent a burst of Sky Flames. It landed on the ground, growling.

Tsuna grimaced, clutching his shoulder in mild exasperation. He could easily escape this situation, he knew, but kwelers were a tough bunch. Extremely fast healers, only death prevented them from running after their prey over and over again. If Tsuna wanted to get out, he knew that he had to kill the creature.

Problem was, Tsuna _didn't _want to kill it.

So what if he was too soft hearted for his own good? Screw him.

"Garh, I _so _blame Reborn for this!"

He felt woozy. Everything looked blurry.

And then a burst of Rain Flames came out of nowhere, pinning the kweler easily and Tsuna, startled, looked up. A form landed half a foot from the kweler, sending another burst of Rain Flames towards the creature. The kweler, easily realizing that it would be impossible to fight and win against this particular opponent, turned around and ran away with its tail tucked in between its legs.

The unknown form swiveled to see him and a happy smile broke Tsuna's lips, mind connecting the stranger's identity. He said:

"Basil!"

And fainted.

* * *

><p><strong>What do you think? The end's nearing, and I hope you guys liked this chapter. <strong>

**Please leave a review on your way out!**


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